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WEC 40
''WEC 40: Torres vs. Mizugaki'' was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting on April 5, 2009 at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois. The event aired live on the Versus Network. Background This was the first WEC event to exclusively feature fights in the lightweight, featherweight, and bantamweight weight classes. The organization's heavier weight classes had been folded into the UFC over the previous four months. World Extreme Cagefighting would maintain this weight class structure for the remainder of the promotion's existence. WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres was to defend his title against Brian Bowles at this event, but Bowles was forced to withdraw from the bout due to a back injury, and was replaced by WEC newcomer Takeya Mizugaki. The Torres/Bowles bout was rescheduled for WEC 42 that August, where Bowles won the title by knockout. Early reports suggested that Wagnney Fabiano could face former WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber at th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Extreme Cagefighting
World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) was an American mixed martial arts, mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion founded in 2001. It was purchased by Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), in 2006. In its final incarnation, it was made up of 3 weight classes: , and . To accommodate the smaller fighters, WEC's cage was in diameter— smaller than the standard UFC cage. The smaller cage is now used by UFC for selected events. History Scott Adams and Reed Harris started the organization in 2001. Between 2001 and 2006, most of their events were held at Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California, and aired on HDNet. In December 2006, Zuffa purchased WEC. With the purchase, WEC continued as a separate promotion with its own roster of fighters. Adams was retained after the purchase as the organization's matchmaker. Harris and Adams were named co-General Managers and were both active in the new WEC. In 2008, Sean She ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cub Swanson
Kevin Luke "Cub" Swanson (born November 2, 1983) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Bantamweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional since 2004, Swanson holds the most post-fight bonus awards in division history with eight, including his WEC tenure he has been awarded "Fight of the Night" honors ten times. Background Swanson was born and raised mostly in Palm Springs, California, on November 2, 1983. He had a Swedish father and a Mexican mother. His widely used nickname Cub originates from his early childhood, as his brother could not say Swanson's real name and opted to call him Cub. Swanson has two older brothers Steve and Aaron, and two sisters of which one has Down syndrome. Swanson's father died of melanoma three months after he was born. Because of his mother's heavy grieving and subsequent drug addiction, Swanson and his siblings were then adopted and raised by their father's cousin. The adoptiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manny Tapia
Manuel Alcaraz Tapia (born March 14, 1981) is an American professional mixed martial arts fighter currently competing in the Bantamweight division. He has formerly competed for the WEC, King of the Cage, and Tachi Palace Fights. He is the former King of the Cage Flyweight Champion. Background Tapia is from Riverside, California. After the death of his parents, Tapia used football, judo, and wrestling as outlets for his anger. He attended Don Lugo High School in Chino, California and Chaffey College. Tapia was originally introduced to mixed martial arts a year out of high school. Mixed martial arts career Early career Tapia made his professional mixed martial arts debut in 2003 for King of the Cage and compiled a record of 4-0-1 before winning the King of the Cage Flyweight Championship. He later signed with the WEC and was stripped of his title. World Extreme Cagefighting Tapia made his WEC debut at WEC 27 on May 12, 2007 in a Featherweight bout against Brandon Foxworth and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akitoshi Tamura
Akitoshi Tamura (born May 31, 1980) is a Japanese mixed martial artist. He competed almost exclusively in the Shooto organization, before making his debut in 2008 at the WEC 37. In 2007, he was the lightweight champion of Shooto. He was once ranked as the #5 Bantamweight in the world by the MMAWeekly Worldwide Ranking System. Tamura is a freestyle fighter. In 2004, Tamura became the first foreigner to beat a Burmese Lethwei fighter in an official match. Mixed martial arts career Tamura made his professional debut in the Shooto organization in a fight against Eiji Murayama, in August 2001, and lost on a technical decision (he later returned to face Murayama in 2004, only for the match to end in a draw). He has made MMA headlines when he defeated Takeshi Inoue in 2007, which won him the title of Shooto lightweight champion. He has also participated in GCM and MARS events, achieving a TKO over Masaomi Saito in the former, and a first round submission over Ian Loveland in the latt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie Wineland
Edward Alan Wineland Jr. (born June 26, 1984) is an American retired mixed martial artist, who competed in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2003 until 2022, Wineland was the inaugural WEC Bantamweight Champion. Background Wineland was born in Houston, Texas, on June 26, 1984, and has one younger brother. Wineland grew up competing in wrestling and graduated from Chesterton High School in Porter County, Indiana, when he was 17 years old. He began his training for MMA with a friend at Duneland Vale Tudo. Two months later, Wineland fought a 37-year-old man and won. Wineland's brother is an inspiration for his fighting career. When his brother was two years old, he burned 98% of his body in an accident. Mixed martial arts career Early career Wineland began his mixed martial arts career competing in regional organizations in his native Midwestern United States. He had compiled a total of 15 professional fights bef ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rani Yahya
Rani Ahmad Yahya (born September 12, 1984) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and BJJ practitioner. He won the 66 kg division of the prestigious ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship in April 2007. He currently fights in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background Yahya was born to a Syrian father and Brazilian mother. He trained judo, taekwondo and karate in his childhood, finding Brazilian jiu-jitsu at the age of 11. Mixed martial arts career World Extreme Cagefighting Yahya made his WEC debut against former TKO Major League MMA featherweight champion Mark Hominick at WEC 28 on May 3, 2007. Yahya defeated Hominick in the first round with a rear naked choke. He fought and lost to Chase Beebe via unanimous decision for the WEC bantamweight championship at WEC 30 on September 5, 2007, and earned ''Fight of the Night'' bonus. On November 5, 2008 at WEC 36, Yahya fought Yoshiro Maeda and won via Submission in the first round ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dominick Cruz
Dominick Cruz (born March 9, 1985) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Bantamweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former two-time UFC Bantamweight Champion. Cruz has also competed for World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), and was the promotions final WEC Bantamweight Champion. As of December 6, 2022, he is #7 in the UFC bantamweight rankings. Cruz is noted for his unorthodox movement, powerful wrestling base, quick striking, and his tendency to attack from angles in a fashion unlike any other fighter on the UFC roster. He won the WEC bantamweight title in March 2010, and won the inaugural UFC Bantamweight Championship the following December. After defending the belt twice in 2011, Cruz was sidelined by injuries in 2012 and subsequently stripped of the title in 2014. On January 17, 2016, he regained the bantamweight championship with a split-decision win over T.J. Dillashaw. Numerous media outlets ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jameel Massouh
Jameel Badih Massouh (born September 12, 1984) is a retired American mixed martial artist. A professional from 2005 until 2011, he fought in the WEC, Bellator, Pancrase, and King of the Cage. Mixed martial arts career Early career After making his professional debut in early 2005, compiling an undefeated 11–0 record before being defeated by veteran Tristan Yunker. World Extreme Cagefighting Massouh made his WEC debut on April 5, 2009 losing via unanimous decision to Raphael Assunção at WEC 40. Massouh was defeated by WEC newcomer Erik Koch on December 19, 2009 at WEC 45. He lost to Michael Mananquil via split decision in the quarter-finals of the ''2013 Road To Glory USA 70kg Tournament'' in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on May 11, 2013. Personal life He is of Lebanese and Scotch-Irish descent. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raphael Assunção
Raphael Oliveira Assunção (born 19 July 1982) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Background Born in Recife in Northeast Brazil, Assunção moved to United States with his immigrant parents when he was a child. He now lives and trains in Atlanta with Ascension MMA under Manu N'toh. He is also the brother of Júnior Assunção and Freddy Assunção who also fight as mixed martial artists. Assunção has a daughter. Mixed martial arts career World Extreme Cagefighting Assunção joined the WEC in 2009, with a 12–1 professional record. He made his promotional debut on 5 April 2009 at WEC 40 against Jameel Massouh. He won the fight via unanimous decision. He faced Yves Jabouin on 2 September 2009 at WEC 43. Assunção won the back and forth fight by split decision. Assunção faced Urijah Faber on 10 January 2010 at WEC 46. Faber won the fight via third-round submission. Assunção th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shane Roller
Shane Derrick Roller (born July 14, 1979) is a retired American mixed martial artist who is perhaps best known in his career for competing as a Lightweight for the UFC and WEC. Background Roller was born and raised in Bixby, Oklahoma along with his three brothers. Roller is known as one of the most decorated athletes in his state's history, a standout at Bixby High School while competing in wrestling, baseball, and football, lettering in each, and was the Tulsa World's 1998 Male Athlete of the Year. In baseball, he was a two-time letterman, playing shortstop, hitting in the lead-off spot, and was twice selected for the All-Metro Honorable Mention Team. In football, Roller played quarterback, running back, free safety, and was a three-time letterman. Roller was selected to play in the Jim Thorpe All-Star Game and was also selected as the 1997 Oklahoma Football Coaches Association All-Star Running Back. In wrestling, Roller was his high school's first four-time state champion and w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benson Henderson
Benson Henderson (born November 16, 1983) is an American mixed martial artist who competes for Bellator MMA, currently competing in their Lightweight division. He is a former UFC Lightweight Champion and WEC Lightweight Champion. As of November 22, 2022, he is #3 in the Bellator Lightweight Rankings. Early life Henderson was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado to a Korean mother and an African American father. Benson has an older brother, Julius, who was born in Korea. He was raised in Federal Way, Washington. When Henderson was approximately 9 years old, his mother, Song, insisted that he take Tae Kwon Do lessons with his brother. "She's Korean, I'm half-Korean, and it's the traditional Korean martial art, so she wanted us to do that to get a little bit of the culture and tradition," he says. Both Benson and his brother attained black belts in Tae Kwon Do. He attended Decatur High School from 1998 to 2001. Benson became a part of the high school's wrestling team. After grad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff Curran
Jeffrey Michael Curran (born September 2, 1977) is an American retired professional mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 1998, Curran has fought at a number of different weight classes for a large number of promotions including Bellator MMA, Bellator, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, Strikeforce (mixed martial arts), Strikeforce, PRIDE Fighting Championships, World Extreme Cagefighting, WEC, International Fight League, IFL, the Resurrection Fighting Alliance, RFA, and King of the Cage, KOTC. Background Curran started his path towards mixed martial arts with karate and Tae Kwon Do when he was five years old. Curran has trained for 16 years and has fought for 5 years. He began wrestling in the fourth grade and did that until his freshman year when he began Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He graduated from Woodstock High School (Illinois) in 1995. Curran also says that as a teen he would box with his grandfather. Curran holds a rank of fourth-degr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
