» Fighter: Rani Yahya

WEC featherweight contenders Rani Yahya (14-3) of Brazil and Joseph Benavidez (7-1) of the USA will matchup at WEC 45 in Las Vegas December 19, the WEC confirmed Thursday.

Read More About WEC 45: Rani Yahya Versus Joseph Benavidez Official…

New WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Thomas Brown’s (15-4) dethroning of “California Kid” Urijah Faber (21-2) via first-round TKO won him the “Knockout of the Night” bonus at WEC 36 in Hollywood, FL, 5 November.

“Cowboy” Donald Cerrone (8-1) versus “Razor” Rob McCullough (16-5) made “Fight of the Night”.  Cerrone won the unanimous decision over McCullough.

Rani Yahya’s (12-2) guillotine choke on Yoshiro Maeda (23-6), which ended the fight at 3:30 of round one, was “Submission of the Night”.

Brown, Cerrone, McCullough, and Yahya each earned $7,500 in addition to their regular fight purse.

“Bad Boy” Leonard Garcia (11-3) was awarded a separate bonus of $7,500 for his performance versus “Little Evil” Jens Pulver (22-9-1), according to MMA Weekly.  Garcia won via TKO at 1:12 of the first round.

Former WEC Featherweight champion “California Kid” Urijah Faber (21-2) got shocked by American Top Team’s Mike Thomas Brown (15-4) via TKO stoppage at 2:23 of the first round Wednesday night at WEC 36 in Hollywood, north of Miami.

Brown took the title decisively following a right hand that laid the former champ out. 

Chael Sonnen (21-9-1) won a surprisingly boring unanimous decision over Fighters.com’s third-ranked middleweight and WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho (15-1) in a non-title fight that was heckled by fans throughout.  Official scores were 10-9 twice for Sonnen, 10-8 for Sonnen.

 ”Bad Boy” Leonard Garcia (11-3) dismantled “Little Evil” Jens Pulver (22-9-1) in a 1:12 TKO shocker to move up the ranks in the WEC’s stacked 145-pound division.

Read More About WEC 36: Mike Thomas Brown Shocks Urijah Faber To Take The Title, Garcia Dismantles Pulver….

The WEC has officially added a bout between former UFC Lightweight Champion “Little Evil” Jens Pulver (22-9-1) and “Bad Boy” Leonard Garcia (11-3) to its 10 September card in Hollywood, FL.

After submitting Cub Swanson (12-2) with a guillotine choke in 35 seconds at his WEC debut in December, Pulver lost the unanimous decision in his five-round battle with current Featherweight Champion “California Kid” Urijah Faber (21-1) in June.

Garcia, who has been battling drug charges, most of which have been dropped, last fought at his WEC debut in February when he TKO’d “Streetfight Bancho” Hiroyuki Takaya (9-5-1) in the first round.

Also official on the WEC 36 card are:

“Indio” Danillo Villefort (8-2) v Jake Rosholt (4-0)
“Razor” Rob McCullough (16-4) v “Cowboy” Donald Cerrone (8-0)
Rani Yahya (11-4) v Yoshiro Maeda (23-5-2)
Johny Hendricks (3-0) v “Russian Crusher” Alex Serdyukov (8-4)
“9mm” Ed Ratcliff (6-1) v Danny Castillo (5-1)

Headlining the event are Faber and Mike Thomas Brown (19-4) in a featherweight title fight, and a middleweight title rematch between Fighters.com’s third-ranked “Ely” Paulo Filho (16-0) and Chael Sonnen (20-9-1).