However, what they don’t realize is that Lashley does have some real talent. A strong wrestling background in his back pocket, he is training with American Top Team to improve the other areas of his game. While he hasn’t been tested yet, he is 5-0, and sure to start facing tougher competition in Strikeforce.

It does have the look of a WWE t-shirt, doesn’t it? I do really like the look of the lightning graphics.

MMA Warehouse has this one for 35.99.

For more TapouT shirts, check out The 3rd String Store.

Click here to view the embedded video.

However, if there was a gun to my head, I would say that Joseph Benavidez would be the guy to do it.

Let’s take a look at the two fights from last Saturday that contained the four best fighters in the division.

When Dominick Cruz won his belt, he did so by TKO because of Injury. It wasn’t an injury that Cruz cause by doing an immense about of damage in the cage. Hell, it wasn’t even a freak injury like Patrick Cote suffered against Anderson Silva. It was a pre-existing injury that snuck up on Brian Bowles and bit him in the proverbial ass. He broke his hand knocking out Miguel Torres, and took seven months to heal up. Then, he throws and lands one punch on Cruz and breaks it again. So, are we really going to pretend that Cruz’s victory isn’t somewhat tainted? Yes, he was winning the first two rounds, but he was doing so with a jumpy, twitchy style that just screamed “Punch me in face!” Bowles continued to rush Cruz, and just seemed a second late at all times. If Bowles had connected, you might not be reading this right now.

Now, look at Joseph Benavidez’s fight against Miguel Torres. Look at the way that he snuffed out almost all offense from a guy who was at one time considered the best fighters on the planet. He continually moved forward, landed his offense and put Torres is tough positions. Most importantly, he finished the fight. He pushed Torres up against the cage, pounded him, and opened up a cut that I’m pretty sure that he used a samurai sword to create. Once the cut was open and Torres was off-kilter, Benavidez finished the job with a guillotine. Done. Fight over, all doubts alleviated.

Can you say that about Cruz?

Yes, Cruz does have a victory over Benavidez. However, as everyone always says, fighters change from fight to fight. I beleive that Benavidez is a better fighter than he was WEC 42, and with him training at Team Alpha Male with WEC godfather Urijah Faber, There is no doubt that he is. As for Cruz, he showed us jab-leg kick-escape over and over again. The best thing he did was gameplan for a fighter who wasn’t as athletic as he was.

This is a prediction and like all predictions has a chance of going terribly awry. However, if you told me that Cruz and Benavidez’s rematch was tomorrow, I’d take Benavidez every single time.

Yea…not so much. According to MMAJunkie, this was the second-worst rating that the promotion has done on Versus in nearly two full years.

WEC 47 (Bowles vs. Cruz): 373,000 viewers
WEC 46 (Varner vs. Henderson): 640,000
WEC 45 (Cerrone vs. Ratciff): 330,000
WEC 44 (Brown vs. Aldo): 414,000
WEC 43 (Cerrone vs. Henderson): 419,000 (first event after loss of DirecTV viewers)

Why did this happen? Well, the event did certainly lack some pop. The only real star on the card was Miguel Torres, and he was coming off a pretty embarrassing knockout loss. The main event was between two bantamweights that only the real MMA fan would know. Bowles was coming off a win, but hadn’t fought in more than six months. Cruz has only one loss, but doesn’t have a resume that screams superstar.

However, I bring you another possibility. This card was on a Saturday night. While me and you may block some prime weekend time for the WEC, Joe Average is out at the bar getting crunk at that time. He might stop for a UFC, but not for it’s awkward little brother.

Well, can the WEC draw on a PPV if they can’t draw on cable on a Saturday night? We’ll see. This next card coming up has a TON of star power on it. The featherweight triumvirate of Urijah Faber, Mike Brown and Jose Aldo are all in action. Donald Cerrone and Ben “Pootie Tang” Henderson go at it in a repeat of WEC’s 2009 fight of the year. Not to mention the possible inclusion of hot prospect Chan Sung Jung, who is best known as “The Korean Zombie. Mmmm…Brains.

Should we assume that the WEC is screwed next month? No, not quite. However, this can’t be good news for Reed Harris and the boys.

However, he is coming back at UFC 113 in a fight against Alan Belcher. He’ll be hard pressed to fight against both Belcher and ring rust, but If I know Canada, they’ll be behind him.

Cote’s return will be in front of his home fans, and many of them will be wearing this Silver Star shirt. Just in case you didn’t know where he was from, this shirt has a giant maple leaf on the back.

MMA Warehouse has this one for 39.99 American Dollars.

For more Silverstar shirts, check out The 3rd String Store.

“According to sources close to the negotiations, both sides have verbally agreed to the bout and should sign official agreements as early as next week.”

Thiago is coming off a victory over Mike Swick in which he showed good, powerful striking and the ability to finish via submission with a textbook d’arce choke. I’m not quite sold on him yet as a contender for a belt, but I am a beleiver that he can make some noise at the top of the welterweight rankings.

As for Kampmann, I’ve never been quite as high on him. At UFC 103, Paul Daley outstruck a guy who is supposed to be one of the most dangerous welterweight standup fighters in the world. Since then, He guillotined Jacob Volkmann at UFC 108, which proved exactly nothing to me.

Expect Thaigo to continue his assault on the summit of the Welterweight division.

I also know that there are a lot of other GSP fans out there. I know that we’ve sold a ton of his shirts, and I know that most of them have been sent to the great white north. Regardless of your nationality, we are all brothers in our love for Canada’s reigning athlete of the year.

That’s why I have no doubt that you are going to love this shirt.

Whoever designed the “GSP” logo on this thing is brilliant. It also features the shield on the front that GSP’s shirts have become famous for.

MMA Warehouse has it for 57.99.

For more GSP shirts, Check out The 3rd String Store.

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• Joseph Benavidez wins the night by making 29,000 in his victory. I was surprised when I saw this, but more power the Joe for getting that money. In a preview of a future article, it’s only a matter of time before Joe is the man at 135.
• Miguel Torres made 26,000 in a loss. This makes me wonder he had a symmetrical win bonus. If he made 52,000 in a victory, that is UFC money right there. This is a good sign.
• Of course, this is the last card before the first WEC PPV, and you all should be ordering it. Remember, PPV revenue means more money for the fighters. Think of them.

Here is the full list:

Televised Card:
Dominick Cruz ($9,000+$9,000=$18,000) def. Brian Bowles ($12,000)
Joseph Benavidez ($14,500+$14,500=$29,000) def. Miguel Torres ($26,000)
Javier Vazquez ($6,000+$6,000=$12,000) def. Jens Pulver ($14,000)
LC Davis ($9,000+$9,000=$18,000) def. Deividas Taurosevicius ($9,000)
Bart Palaszewski ($6,000+$6,000=$12,000) def. Karen Darabedyan ($4,000)

Preliminary Card:
Scott Jorgensen ($8,000+$8,000=$16,000) def. Chad George ($3,000)
Chad Mendes ($4,000+$4,000=$8,000) def. Erik Koch ($3,000)
Anthony Pettis ($3,000+$3,000=$6,000) def. Danny Castillo ($9,500)
Leonard Garcia ($14,000) fought George Roop ($3,000) to a split draw
Fredson Paixao ($2,000+$2,000=$4,000) def. Courtney Buck ($3,000)
Ricardo Lamas ($5,000+$5,000=$10,000) def. Bendy Casimir ($3,000)