According to NSAC, the most notable fighters that tested negative for drugs of the performance enhancing and street variety include WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres and the man he TKO’d during the show’s main event, Manny Tapia.

The seven other fighters that passed their tests were Shane Roller, Kevin “Cub” Swanson, Bart Palaszewski, Johny Hendricks, Joseph Benavidez, Brian Bowles and Wagnney Fabiano.

NSAC also confirmed that WEC 37 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas sold 643 tickets for a total house of $90,125. A total of 290 complementary tickets were given away with 162 tickets at the venue going unsold.

According to the public records, Zuffa spent a total of $219,000 on documented fighter salary last night (the figures do not include an additional $30,000 paid in the form of publicly announced “Fight Night” bonuses) with WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres clocking in as the highest earner with a total of $44,000.

In addition to receiving a guarantee of $22,000, Torres doubled his pay after receiving a $22,000 win bonus following his second round TKO over Manny Tapia.

Despite headlining, Tapia earned just $6,000 in the losing effort. With a win, he could have doubled his pay.

Complete salary totals for the 20 fighters that competed at WEC 37 are available below. All numbers are according to NSAC.

• Miguel Torres: $44,000 ($22,000 to show and $22,000 to win)
• Wagnney Fabiano: $22,000 ($11,000 to show and $11,000 to win)
• Mark Munoz: $20,000 ($10,000 to show and $10,000 to win)
• Joseph R. Benavidez: $17,000 ($8,500 to show and $8,500 to win)
• Johny Hendricks: $16,000 ($8,000 to win and $8,000 to show)
• Shane Roller: $16,000 ($8,000 to win and $8,000 to show)
• Brian Bowles: $12,000 ($6,000 to show and $6,000 to win)
• Kevin “Cub” Swanson: $10,000 ($5,000 to show and $5,000 to win)
• Bart Palaszewski: $8,000 ($4,000 to show and $4,000 to win)
• Alex Karalexis: $8,000 (would have earned an additional $8,000 had he won)
• Akitoshi Tamura: $6,000 (would had earned an additional $12,000 had he won)
• Manny Tapia: $6,000 (would had earned an additional $12,000 had he won)
• Diego Nunes: $6,000 ($3,000 to show and $3,000 to win)
• Hiroyuki Takaya: $5,000 (would have earned an additional $5,000 had he won)
• Will Ribeiro: $4,000 (would have earned an additional $4,000 had he won)
• Mike Budnik: $4,000 (would have earned an additional $4,000 had he won)
• Dustin Province: $3,000 (would have earned an additional $3,000 had he won)
• Justin Haskins: $3,000 (would have earned an additional $3,000 had he won)
• Ricardo Barros: $3,000 (would have earned an additional $3,000 had he won)
• Daniel Martinez: $2,000 (would have earned an additional $2,000 had he won)

Not included in the official NSAC figures was Bowles earning an additional $7,500 for “Submission of the Night” bonus against Will Ribeiro, bringing his total to $19,500.

Palaszewski’s also won a $7,500 bonus for “Knockout of the Night” following his TKO over Karalexis. The former IFL competitor walked with $15,500 in documented pay.

“Fight of the Night” honors went out to Swanson and Takaya. Swanson’s final total was $17,500 while Takaya left with $12,5000.

It is also imperative to note that the NSAC figures above may or may not be the final total each fighter was compensated for his performance at WEC 37. The figures above do not include sponsorship bonuses, signing bonuses, or incentive bonuses.

“I thought they called it too early,” said a visibly bruised Tapia during a Sherdog video interview. “I still felt good. I know he rocked me, like, twice — well, I didn’t feel rocked.”

Despite his critical assessment of the stoppage, Tapia was still willing to acknowledge that Torres had inflicted serious damage.

“He got me,” Tapia shrugged in acknowledgment. “They stopped it because I got this little cut right here on corner of my eye. I guess that’s dangerous?”

But Tapia would voice protests over the stoppage again later in the interview.

“People say he’s pound-for-pound the best in the world. So who better to lose to than him?,” Tapia asked rhetorically, before continuing, “I still don’t feel like I lost. They just stopped it. I didn’t lose — they stopped it. I don’t know why.”

During the interview, Tapia indicated that he planned to take some time off following the loss but that he has every intention of returning to the WEC’s bantamweight division.

While WEC 37 did not feature the epic “Fight of the Year” encounters supplied by June’s WEC 34, the event still served as an entertaining night of fights.

The show got off to a slow start with an opener featuring debuting bantamweights Joseph Benavidez and Danny Martinez. Martinez entered the fight with an impressive record but still appeared to be rough around the edges. Benavidez was clearly the more technical fighter, putting combinations together while Martinez went the brawling route and instead hung back looking for the home run punch.

The styles of the two fighters did not mesh well but they provided a strong exchange towards the end of the fight with Martinez looking to steal the fight with a big finish after obviously losing all three rounds of the fight on the scorecards. Benavidez weathered the storm and justified his status as one of the top 135 pound prospects in the sport.

The card also marked the debut of new WEC matchmaker Sean Shelby, a longtime member of the Zuffa family that has served in a number of roles. Shelby might be best known as the man who handled the video editing for the UFC music video set to the tune of The Who’s “Teenage Wasteland.” The video is only shown to the live audience at UFC events and features some of the most memorable fight sequences during Zuffa’s ownership of the UFC. The video is a tremendous marketing tool that adds to the atomosphere of the UFC’s live events and it’s the type of easily-replicated thing that the EliteXC or IFL never tried to copy.

Shelby replaced Scott Adams, who, with Reed Harris, was one of the original owners of the WEC. Adams had come under fire in recent months due to the fact that several title challengers were not built up properly on TV.

As FiveOuncesOfPain.com was the first to report, Adams was replaced after last month’s WEC 36 after a “Fight of the Night” bout featuring Donald Cerrone and Rob McCullough was unable to make the broadcast. In the fight’s place was a green Jake Rosholt, who was featured instead of Cerrone — the new number one contender for the lightweight title — due to a contractual guarantee that all of Rosholt’s WEC fights must be televised.

It should be noted that Adams is still with the promotion, as he was clearly visible on multiple occasions during VERSUS’ telecast of the event last night.

My personal “Fight of the Night” honors goes to a bantamweight encounter between Brian Bowles and Will Ribeiro. Bowles and Ribeiro are extremely valuable to a promotion that is now eschewing the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions in favor of focusing even more on lighter weight divisions.

The WEC’s lighter weight focus has made the promotion a cult favorite amongst hardcore fans. However, it remains to be seen how much the promotion can grow its audience with highly-technical ground fighting that often lacks highlight reel knockouts that casual fans crave. While Bowles and Ribeiro are very capable on the ground, they showed a willingness to stand and brawl — a rarity for the 135 pound division.

In victory, Bowles moved himself a step closer to a title fight vs. current bantamweight champion Miguel Angel Torres. However, Ribeiro still helped his star immensely with in his first appearance on live television. I spoke with a leading MMA agent after the show who expressed his belief that Ribeiro looked more impressive in losing than Wagnney Fabiano did in winning.

Fabiano submitted fellow featherweight newcomer Akitoshi Tamura with just seconds remaining in the third round. While the war of attrition for ground position likely was considered boring to the average fan, I found the posturing to be extremely entertaining. Adding to the enjoyment of the match was the outstanding camera work by the WEC production team.

I especially enjoyed a close up of Tamura’s legs locking up Fabiano in half-guard at one point. It also appeared that the production team took a page out of the Fox Sports playbook by quick-shifting to different camera angles while the action was slow on the ground. In doing so, the production added to the drama of the struggle for position.

The show’s main event also delivered. While Torres vs. Tapia was nowhere near as good as Torres vs. Yoshiro Maeda, the fight was still exciting. I especially enjoyed the ending sequence where Torres rocked Tapia and then rocked him again and finished him off for good after he had recovered.

While I enjoyed the event, there are still areas in which the WEC can look to improve.

First, the timing of the show was inconsistent. During the live action, you got the feeling that the producers wanted to get off the air as soon as possible.

For the second show in a row, the WEC aired on the same night as “The Ultimate Fighter.” However, it was even more imperative this month to get off the air as close to 10 p.m. ET as possible with Spike TV airing the final two taped episodes of TUF.

The WEC can put itself in a position where it can deliver a more consistently paced show by no longer airing on Wednesday nights, where it is forced to go against TUF.

What’s crazy was that during WEC 37, Spike was airing taped UFC specials that began at 6. Spike and VERSUS are competitors but the UFC and WEC are both owned by Zuffa. I had issues with the UFC competing with EliteXC on CBS (which is owned by CBS Corp., which falls under the same umbrella as Viacom, the parent company of Spike TV) and hastily booking a UFC Fight Night in July to go head-to-head with Affliction’s “Banned.” But at least there isn’t a double-standard, as Zuffa is showing that it’s also willing to go head-to-head with itself! That being said, it’s still counter-productive for the growth of the sport for MMA to go head-to-head with itself like it did last night. MMA fans were only exposed to one night of strong MMA programming when it could have been spread out over the course of two.

During the NFL off-season, the WEC should schedule shows for Sunday and during football season, shows should be held on Thursdays. I believe its better to go head-to-head with the NFL and college football with a show that can breathe and has time to build stars as opposed to a condensed version that tries like bloody hell to avoid an overlap during the airing of TUF.

While the fights themselves felt rushed with no context or analysis provided before or after a fight, the event slowed to a crawl between fights with excessive commercial breaks and extended ring introductions for three of the four fights.

The commercial situation cannot be corrected but there are still adjustments that can be made to get the pacing of the show back to where it was prior to WEC 36. When the WEC is at the Hard Rock in Vegas, I’m not sure the entrances could be any less impressive. The music is somewhat muted and the entrance way looks like a fighter is walking into the venue off the street as opposed to out of a locker room.

The WEC should either add some kind of small stage setup for the fighters to enter through or just stop showing entrances on TV altogether and have the fighters in the cage and ready for introductions immediately after commercial. Simply put, WEC fighter entrances from The Joint in Vegas don’t get my adrenaline flowing.

Also, the WEC should look into doing away with pre-fight instructions and the pre-fight staredown in non-title fights. The WEC is the true essence of sport and almost all of the fighters showed a tremendous amount of class and respect towards one another. They all follow the rules so they don’t need to be reminded of them on camera and the tension between Torres and Tapia is one of the few times in the WEC in which I remember the staredown actually eliciting a reaction from me.

I also believe the WEC needs to add a bigger feel to all of its events. The Sacramento and Albuquerque shows felt like pay-per-views. Last night’s show felt like MMA’s version of “Friday Night Fights” before the main event. With EliteXC out of the picture for now, why now schedule a show on VERSUS for a Saturday night on a weekend when the UFC isn’t holding a show? Or, why not schedule next year’s final event during the same weekend of the UFC’s annual New Year’s Eve weekend event? A lot of people come in out of town for New Year’s Eve weekend and they are looking for something to do the night before. I remember going to an IFO show at the Riviera last year simply because it was the day before UFC 79. About 1,500 people felt the same way I did. A WEC event the day before the UFC’s biggest event of the year could draw a pretty hot crowd.

The WEC also needs a public face for its company. One segment I used to enjoy on UFC pay-per-views is when UFC President Dana White would be interview by Mike Goldberg and would essentially give a “state of the UFC” address. Peter Dropick is the WEC’s top executive and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to give him 2-3 minutes of camera time every show to let WEC fans know what’s planned for the coming months.

It would have been great to hear what’s in store for 2009 as far as number of fight cards, venues, where the promotion is as far as adding female MMA, etc. During the pre-TUF area when growth was slow going for the UFC, White’s interviews always left me with the feeling that the promotion was still growing and that the sport was going forward, and not backward.

There are also some minor enhancements I’d like to see made. For instance, with the elimination of the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, we’re going to see even fewer finishes in the WEC. That’s fine by me, but why not add a cageside scorer to come on mic for 15-20 seconds at the start of each round to illustrate how they scored the round? Why not just bring back Eddie Bravo? Bravo served in the same role for the UFC and was mentioned so many times by Frank Mir last night that I felt like he was a part of the broadcast anyway.

The WEC also used to do a great job of foreshadowing future fights by cutting to fighters in the crowd and interviewing them regarding a possible future opponent fighting that night. For example, I was really disappointed not to see Jeff Curran. Curran is one of the top lighter weight fighters ever to compete in MMA and is moving to bantamweight. And if you’re a regular reader of this site, you know he’s trying to create some interest for a future showdown with Torres.

How could the WEC have missed out on the opportunity to begin planting the seeds for a Torres vs. Curran dreamfight at bantamweight? If they would have put Curran on the mic and got him to say some of the things he told me during a recent interview, you’d have a lot more people buzzing about last night’s show.

Finally, the WEC still needs to do a better job of building well-known contenders for the future and avoid situations where guys like Curran and Mike Brown are featured in title fighters without previously having competed in a televised bout on VERSUS. Bart Palaszewski had an impressive win last night and the only way you knew about it is if you went on a website for live play-by-play.

Once the WEC stops airing on the same nights as TUF, they will have time to put together a small highlight package that play-by-play announcer Todd Harris can do a narrative for. “And before we go to break, let’s catch you up on some action that went down earlier tonight. Making his WEC debut, former IFL lightweight title challenger Bart Palaszewski began his climb towards a WEC lightweight title shot with a victory over TUF 1 veteran Alex Karalexis.”

The WEC could also use the highlights package as a way to upsell its WrekCage program on VERSUS. WrekCage is the WEC’s equivalent to “UFC Unleashed” on Spike, yet seemingly no one knows about it. Show the highlights and when Harris cut to a commercial he can say, “Look to see these fights in their entirety when the new season of WrekCage debuts on…” I get the impression that a lot of the people who watch the live shows have no idea WrekCage exists because I am constantly being asked by people about how the non-televised preliminary fights can be viewed.

The victory improved Torres’ documented record to 35-1 and his record under the World Extreme Cagefighting banner to 4-0.

Torres, an Indiana native who once trained under the late Carlson Gracie in Chicago, improved to 2-0 while wearing the WEC’s 135 pound title after rocking Tapia multiple times before forcing the referee to call a stop to the bout at 3:04 of round 2.

The loss marked the first of Tapia’s career, with his record falling to 10-1-1. Considered to be one of the larger bantamweight fighters in the WEC, Tapia was still dwarfed by Torres during the fight’s obligatory pre-fight staredown.

During the tension-filled staredown, neither Torres or Tapia extended a hand to one another and the two avoided the customary “hand slap” that precedes the beginning of the first round in most MMA fights. The angst directed by Torres towards Tapia could be in response to Tapia labeling Torres as “overrated” earlier in the week.

Once the fight commenced, Torres’ reach advantage caused matchup problems for Tapia, who could not engage with Torres without being peppered by a strong left jab. The reach disadvantage prompted Tapia to remain out of Torres’ range for the most. When he did attempt to close the distance, Tapia attempted to land a right cross that never reached its intended destination.

Tapia refrained from trying to change the terms of the fight with an attempt to take Torres off his foot, instead opting to steer clear of the black belt’s renowned submission skills.

Torres’ emegerence from a well-respected regional fighter to nationally known fighter that is now recognized as one of the pound-for-pound best in the sport has created a void in the WEC, which now is lacking an obvious number one contender.

Making a case for a future title shot on the undercard was Brian Bowles of the Hardcore Gym in Atlanta, Georgia. Bowles improved to 7-0 following a third round submission over Will Ribeiro, who had entered the fight with an impressive 10-1 record.

In defeat, Ribeiro made a positive impression in his first major televised bout. A former member of the Brazilian Olympic boxing team, Ribeiro showed dynamic striking ability and a willingess to take risks in an attempt to knock Bowles out.

Despite Ribeiro’s striking prowess, Bowles also showed a willingness to stand and trade while displaying effective combination striking. He was eventually able to finish the native Brazilian with a guillotine submission at 1:11 of round 3.

In addition to wins by Torres and Bowles, the 10-bout card that emanated from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas also featured victories by several newcomers to the WEC roster.

Former IFL featherweight champion Wagnney Fabiano engaged in a war of attrition for position while locked in guard against fellow debuting top ten featherweight Akitoshi Tamura. Tamura spent most of the fight on his back and showed limited offensive ability from the position, yet displayed impressive defensive skills. The Japanese fighter was able to limit the amount of damage inflicted by Fabiano, who had achieved full mount at one point.

Tamura was only able to withstand Fabiano’s smothering for so long, as submitted to a arm triangle choke with just 12 seconds remaining in the fight.

Bantamweight Joseph Benavidez, who was coming off a first round submission over Junya Kudo at DREAM 5 in a bout that was nationally televised in Japan, made his WEC debut a successful one after recording a unanimous decision victory over Danny Martinez.

A protege of former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber, Benavidez out-classed the rugged Martinez while improving his record to 9-0.

Lightweight Bart Palaszewski, another former refugee of the IFL, TKO’d Alex Karalexis, a veteran from the first season of Spike TV’s “Ultimate Fighter” reality show, at 1:11 of round 2.

The show also featured the debut of former multi-time NCAA amateur wrestling champion Johny Hendricks, who improved to 4-0 following a second round TKO over Justin Haskins in a welterweight encounter.

Mark Munoz, another former NCAA champion, improved to 5-0 with a first round TKO over Ricardo Barros. The victory marked the light heavyweight’s final fight in the WEC, as the promotion is closing its middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. Munoz’s next fight will come in the UFC’s Octagon.

Cub Swanson also made a triumphant to the WEC after his last fight for the promotion ended when he submitted to Jens Pulver just 35 seconds into their heated bout at WEC 31. Facing highly-regarded Hiroyuki Takaya, Swanson catapulted himself back towards the top of the featherweight division with a unanimous decision victory.

With Urijah Faber having lost his WEC featherweight title to Mike Thomas Brown at WEC 36 in early November, one could make the case that Torres is now the promotion’s top dog. But whether Torres can be a box office draw remains to be seen, as even Faber only managed to draw a 0.5 rating last month.

But Torres won’t have to carry Wednesday’s show alone, as he will be flanked by an impressive undercard that will feature top bantamweight prospects Will Ribeiro and Brian Bowles; world class featherweight newcomers Wagnney Fabiano and Akitoshi Tamura; and the WEC debut of Urijah Faber protege Joseph Benavidez.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com has a complete preview of the four bouts scheduled to make the VERSUS telecast on Wednesday.

Miguel Torres vs. Manny Tapia for Torres’ WEC bantamweight title - Torres, owner of one of the most impressive records in MMA at 34-1, is finally getting a great deal of press and is being positioned as the WEC’s number two star behind former featherweight champion Urijah Faber.

The Chicago native was recently featured on the cover of FIGHT! magazine and the added exposure has caused some to speculate that the attention might be going to his head. However, the reality is that Torres holed himself up for his most recent camp in order to shut out all outside distractions, most notably Jeff Curran’s recent calls to begin to promote a future showdown between the two.

Curran is dropping to bantamweight for his next WEC fight and has aspirations to challenge for the 135 pound title sooner rather than later. However, Torres must get past Tapia first.

Tapia, undefeated at 10-0-1, had been scheduled to challenge Torres for the bantamweight title at WEC 34 on June 1 but had to pull off the show due to injury and was replaced by Yoshiro Maeda. However, Tapia wasn’t heading into the fight with a great deal of momentum following a disappointing showing in his last fight against Antonio Banuelos at WEC 32 this past February.

Tapia was declared the winner via split decision but the outcome caused a great deal of controversy, as Banuelos was originally announced as the winner to the crowd but an error in reading the scorecards was later realized and Tapia was named the winner.

As good as Tapia is, he might be outgunned. At 5’8”, Torres is freakishly tall for the bantamweight division. Torres’ height alone make him tough to gameplan for, but his outstanding groud game and standup skills makes him almost impossible to prepare for.

While he was only just recently promoted to black belt, Torres’ jiu-jitsu has been black belt level for several years now. Tapia is no slouch on the ground, but it’s an area where he doesn’t want to test Torres. The problem is, Torres’ striking has really improved over the course of the last 2 /12 years and standing and trading with him could prove to be a losing proposition for Tapia as well.

If Tapia pushes the fight and stays in Torres’ face for five rounds, perhaps we could see an upset. But I don’t see that being the case and I see Torres being able to finish Tapia in the third round via TKO.

Brian Bowles vs. Will Ribeiro - Brian Bowles and Will Ribeiro are prime examples of why the WEC is doing away with its light heavyweight and middleweight divisions. In events prior, there likely would have not been enough room to get this fight on the air, which would have been a crime because it has the potential to contend for “Fight of the Night” honors. Furthermore, it’s paramount that the WEC begin to build fighters such as Bowles and Ribeiro up more because the winner of this fight could be challenging for the bantamweight title in short order.

Training out of former UFC fighter Rory Singer’s Hardcore Gym in Atlanta, Bowles is an impressive prospect with a 6-0 record. In three fights under the WEC banner, Bowles has won all three in two rounds or less.

Making his WEC debut against Charlie Valencia at WEC 28 in June of 2007, Bowles submitted the hard nosed veteran with a rear naked choke at 2:50 of round 2. He returned in December of the same year, knocking out Marco Galvao at 2:09 of round 2 during the undercard of the same show that featured Urijah Faber defending his title against Jeff Curran.

However, it was Bowles’ win first round submission over the Greg Jackson-trained Damacio Page at WEC 35 this past August that finally garnered him some press. That being said, Bowles is still vastly underrated and is in dire need of the television exposure that Wednesday’s show will provide.

But Ribeiro is in the same boat, because despite an impressive 10-1 record, only the hardest of hardcores know about him. The native Brazilian earned a spot in the WEC following a first round knockout over Andre Lobo during a Shooto event in Brazil.

The win over Lobo was then proceded by his WEC debut at WEC 34 this past June against former WEC bantamweight champion Chase Beebe. Beebe, who represented Ribeiro’s toughest competition to date, would go on to lose via unanimous decision in a mild upset.

Despite his strong record, there are still questions about whether Ribeiro is truly ready to contend for the WEC 135 pound title. Most of his early wins were built up against inferior competition and his only victories over quality competition were against Beebe and William Vianna.

Beebe might be more experienced than Bowles, but Bowles still represents the greatest challenge of Ribeiro’s career. The uncertainty over Ribeiro’s degree of readiness for the spotlight makes the pick of Bowles via unanimous decision an easy one.

Wagnney Fabiano vs. Akitoshi Tamura - The WEC continues to expand its roster of talent and this bout will feature not just one, but two, top ten-caliber featherweight newcomers.

Leonard Garcia is expected to get the first crack at Mike Thomas Brown’s featherweight title but the winner of this fight could move themselves into a position where they are one to two wins away from from a shot at the 145 pound belt.

Fabiano is a former IFL featherweight champion who originally began competing for the promotion as a lightweight. The native Brazilian performed quite well as a lightweight, compiling a 4-0 record before moving down in weight. However, once he made the move, Fabiano began to earn recognition as a world class fighter.

Known for his tremendous submission game, Fabiano is an underrated wrestler. His slick jiu-jitsu coupled with his ability to control position makes him a very dangerous fighter. Making him even more lethal is are his improving standup skills. In his first IFL featherweight title defense this past April at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., Fabiano needed just one punch to knock out Shad Lierley 37 seconds in their fight.

Fabiano was favored but the quick finish was still surprising because while competing at 155 the year prior, Lierley took Chris Horodecki the distance in what will go down as one of the greatest fighters in IFL history. Already considered a top ten featherweight in most major polls, Fabiano will be a consensus top five pick if his standup continues to evolve.

Tamura is a veteran of Shooto, a Japan-based promotion that essentially the Far East equivilient to the WEC in that it features lighter weight fighters. At 12-6-2, Tamura’s record may not be the overly impressive but he’s ranked as a top ten featherweight because he’s surged over the course of the past two years.

In his last six fights, Tamura is 5-1 with his only loss coming via split decision to Hideki Kadowaki, another highly-ranked featherweight. His most recent victory was on May 3 against Rumina Sato, a lighterweight pioneer who might have been a little before his time. The year prior, Tamura avenged a previous loss to Takeshi Inoue, another fighter considered to be one of the best in the world at 145.

Tamura will be able to hang with Fabiano on the ground and may even be more versatile when it comes to the standup, however, the concern here is that Tamura is not a finisher. If it the fight goes the distance, which I believe it will, Fabiano will hold the advantage.

Joseph Benavidez vs. Danny Martinez - Benavidez is a top bantamweight prospect who will be making his WEC debut. He’s been flying under the radar for quite some time now but garnered some press after submitting Junya Kudo with a guillotine choke at DREAM 5 this past July.

Benavidez was originally scheduled to face Kid Yamamoto in that matchup, with DREAM promoters looking to capitalize on Benavidez’s affiliation with former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber. Benavidez trains out of Faber’s “Ultimate Fitness” gym in Sacramento and the idea was to play up a future dream match between Faber and Yamamoto.

Much like Faber, Benavidez is a good wrestler with a slick submission game. Undefeated at 8-0, he’s a tremendous addition for the WEC’s bantamweight division and is future championship material. However, he’s not being given a tomato can in his debut.

Martinez is 12-2 and trains out of Southwest MMA in Tempe, Arizona. Thus far, Martinez has made his bones on the Arizona regional scene competing for promotions such as Rage in the Cage and Total Combat.

TKO promoter Stephane Patry brought Martinez out to lose to Mark “The Machine” Hominick at TKO 31 in Decemember of 2007. Despite fighting a class up in weight, Martinez hung tough and took Hominick the distance, losing a unanimous decision.

Seeing Martinez win here wouldn’t be a surprise, as he might be better as far as standup. However, Benavidez has an advantage on the ground and I believe he’ll end up winning a unanimous decision.

Miguel Torres will headline the show as he defends his WEC bantamweight title vs. number one contender Manny Tapia. With Torres’ notoriety increasing, his placement on the card has created a vacuum with many other fighters being overlooked.

One of the show’s underexposed storylines is the debut of former IFL lightweight standout Bart Palaszewski. Palaszewski, a former member of Pat Miletich’s World Champion Iowa Silverbacks, is perhaps best known for his highly-entertaining fights vs. the promotion’s one-time wunderkind, Chris Horodecki.

A member of Jeff Curran’s Team Curran, Palaszewski will now fight under the same banner of his trainer when he squares off against TUF 1 season veteran Alex Karalexis in a non-televised preliminary fight.

With a non-televised lightweight bout between “Razor” Rob McCullough and Donald Cerrone having earned “Fight of the Night” honors at WEC 36 earlier this month, the aggressive standup philosophies of both Palaszewski and Karalexis could cause the WEC and VERSUS a case of deja vu.

With his WEC debut fast approaching, Palaszewski still took time to speak with FiveOuncesOfPain.com for an exclusive interview. During the course the conversation, Palaszewski discussed his IFL experience; his thoughts on the budding rivalry between his trainer, Curran, and Torres; as well sharing a one of a kind story about a skateboard adventure down the famed Lombard Street in San Francisco.

Sam Caplan: After the IFL ceased operations and you became a free agent, which fight promotions pursued you?

Bart Palaszewski: None of the promotions pursued me. We went after a few different places but the WEC is the one we decided to go with, obviously. They had the best offer for us, as far as the long run. A couple of different promotions tried to get us to sign a deal but it was all short-term. I was looking for a long-term deal and the WEC offered it, so we went with them.

Sam Caplan: When deciding whether or not to join the WEC, were there any fighters currently in the lightweight division that stood out to you as guys you’d like to fight?

Bart Palaszewski: I mean, all of the guys would be cool. But you know, (Rob) McCullough has been around forever and I’d really like to fight him. I think our styles would mesh really well. I’d also like to fight (Donald) Cerrone in the future too. And obviously, (Jamie Varner). The list is huge — they’ve got a really good stable of ’55 pounders so there’s a lot of good potential matchups for me in the division. I’m in it for the long haul so I’m sure I will get my hands on all of the guys.

Sam Caplan: For a brief time, it appeared as though the IFL was going to sell fighter contracts as assets. Many fighters with EliteXC are in limbo right now because it’s uncertain whether the company will ever promote shows again, yet nobody is being let out of their deals. How were you able to get out of your deal before the IFL officially filed for bankruptcy?

Bart Palaszewski: A couple of people from the IFL helped me, actually. Shannon Knapp, she helped me. I was always pretty cool with the IFL and they were always pretty cool with me, obviously. They pretty much got me that big start and were the first to put big promotion behind me after they picked me up. I was always cool with them and I never caused any trouble or conflict so when it came time to get out they were really cool with me. I think it was kind of mutual and I was cool with them and they were cool with me and it worked out.

Sam Caplan: Was fighting for the IFL a positive or negative experience for you?

Bart Palaszewski: Oh, it was definitely a positive experience. I was doing smaller shows for years and years and obviously I wanted to be in the UFC or WEC, you know, a big, big promotion and those were the only two that were big at the time. But the IFL was the one that picked me up and I am glad. I am really (happy) with everything that happened there. They kept us busy, obviously. That was the only downfall but by keeping us busy they kept the money coming in.

It was, I guess, a 50/50 situation. They kept us busy and there wasn’t much time to improve your game but at the same time you stayed busy and we were careful during training camps not to get injured. And like I said, the money was good because of that.

Sam Caplan: You’re currently a member of Team Curran out of Illinois, where you train under Jeff Curran. Someone told me an interesting story about how you joined up with Jeff. They said that you discovered the school after fighting one of his students and getting bullied around by him. Is that story true?

Bart Palaszewski: (Laughs) Yeah. One of the guys who trained with Jeff, he was actually on break from training for whatever reason. But yeah, I always considered myself a little badass and he beat me up. He was actually wearing a Team Link shirt and Jeff was a part of Team Link at the time with his academy being an affiliate of Team Link.

I was always interested martial arts. I did Judo as a kid and my cousin was a competitive kickboxer in Poland. He used to use me as his training dummy. He would just kick my ass day in and day out. So I figured I would give it a shot after I got beat up. And six months into training Jeff put a show together.

I didn’t even know MMA had existed up until that point and I pretty much just went to the show to support the gym but while watching the fights, I fell in love with them.

Sam Caplan: What was the fight over?

Bart Palaszewski: It was my first hour of biology class and I don’t even remember. It was my freshman year in high school. I couldn’t even tell you what it was over. Something stupid, obviously. It was first hour and I was half asleep in school still. Biology usually occurred during my sleeping hours and yeah, someone said something and we went after it.

Sam Caplan: When you showed up at Jeff’s academy did you tell him who you were and how you found out about his school?

Bart Palaszewski: Absolutely not. I told him a few years later after we became friends but I don’t think he wanted his gym promoted that way. “Hey, I’m here because one of your former students kicked my ass!” (Laughs)

Sam Caplan: You’re a member of Team Curran and I wanted to get your thoughts about Jeff Curran moving from featherweight to bantamweight?

Bart Palaszewski: I think it’s a great move for him. I think that’s a weight class where he’s actually going to have to cut. You know, at ’45, Jeff would get chubby. When he fought at ’45 he wouldn’t have to diet to get down in weight because the only reason why he had to cut for ’45 was because of ice cream and gummy bears. Those were the only reasons (laughs). He would walk at ’45 and ’46 and he’s super light.

At ’35, that’s a weight class where he’s actually got to make weight. He’s going to have to cut to make the weight class and he’s going to be a terror. He’s had to cut a lot of weight and he’s really dedicated to things like that. He’s very professional about it and he’s already made the cut to ’35 and the next time he does it he’s going to be a monster the next day, weight wise.

He just hits way too hard for those guys and he’s going to knock fools out at that weight class, I think.

Sam Caplan: During a recent local show, Curran issued a challenge to current WEC champion Miguel Torres. Being that the two are both Chicago-area fighters, is there any kind of rivalry that exists between the two? A lot of people claim that Jeff called Miguel out, which has stirred up some controversy.

Bart Palaszewski: I don’t know about him calling him out. I think with the way he read it to me, someone claimed he called him out. Well, he’s never called Miguel out. He did talk to Miguel about possibly hyping it up into a big fight instead of being children about it.

They’re both from Chicago and they could make that fight a really huge show and I think some people took it the wrong way and blew it out of proportion. But that’s on them. But as far as fighting Jeff, that would be a really bad move on Miguel’s part.

That’s a fight that I don’t think Miguel is going to want and if he does, he’s crazy because in my eyes, Jeff is going to steamroll him. But I’m not saying that being Jeff is my trainer and mentor. I’ve seen Miguel fight plenty of times over the years and I’ve seen Jeff’s fights over the years and there’s nothing Miguel can offer him. He’s not going to get him down and he’s not going to knock Jeff out.

If he relies on the tap then he’s in trouble because he’s definitely not going to submit Jeff. I really think it’s going to be a brawl but that it will end quick and pretty lousy for Miguel.

Sam Caplan: So you think Jeff is going to steamroll Miguel?

Bart Palaszewski: Oh yeah. It’s definitely not going to go the distance and it’s just not going to happen. Jeff is just going to be way too powerful and way too big for him. He’s just on a tear. Miguel, like I said, he won’t be able to get Jeff down on the ground and even if he does, he’s not going to be able to touch him.

And as far as standup goes, Jeff just hits way too hard. I don’t care who it is, at 135 Jeff just hits way to hard, for one. And for two, Jeff’s hands are just sick. He’s fought professionally at boxing and at ’35 he just hurts guy. And professional boxers actually know how to throw down. I’m not trying to cut Miguel down but I’ve seen his standup and it’s not the hottest.

Sam Caplan: Prior to your win over Jeff Cox during the first Adrenaline MMA show in June, you were coming off three consecutive losses. I know you don’t want to make any excuses, but I wanted to see if there was anything you were able to pinpoint in those outings that you worked to change?

Bart Palaszewski: Oh, yeah. The fight with Chris (Horodecki) was super close and it could have gone either one. Both times, in my eyes, I won the fight. But it doesn’t matter what I think, it’s all in the eyes of the judges. So that’s one thing: don’t leave it in the hands of the judges, I guess.

The fight with Deividas (Taurosevicius) where it got stopped during an armbar, that was just retarded. I don’t want to call a judge or referee or anyone with the commission retarded, but that was a horrible stoppage. He did catch me in the armbar but I wasn’t going to tap. My elbow was popping but I wasn’t about to tap. I was getting out of it at that point and he started screaming that he broke my arm and the ref jumped in and stopped it because he had said that. That’s not really an excuse but it was just a bad stoppage. The whole place was dumbfounded by it.

And the Jim Miller right, I should have done better research on him. My sources weren’t too good. I was told his jiu-jitsu was so-so and that he had no takedowns and that he was the kind of guy I should stand with. So I wasn’t worried about his ground game or his takedowns but he did get me down in the first and put a choke on which almost took me out. After that, it was a hard fight. It’s pretty much like getting rocked when you’re almost choked unconscious. After that, it was a rough comeback and he just kept taking me down and putting me in submissions. I was half-asleep during the fight because of that. So I guess that fight taught me to be ready and ignore what people say.

Sam Caplan: You’re fighting next Wednesday and Thanksgiving is Thursday, leaving only a few days before you need to leave for Vegas and weigh-in and fight. Do you pretty much have to abstain from eating traditional holiday foods in order to stay on weight?

Bart Palaszewski: Well, in between fights I’ve been really watching my weight and eating healthy and eating clean. I’ve also been training really, really hard. This is going to be fight number three where I’ve trained really, really hard while watching what I eat and I’m cooking a huge Thursday morning breakfast. And then we’re going to go to my wife’s parents house for dinner and I’m not going to hold back. With my weight, I am way ahead of schedule. I’m going to have a little fun, as far as food goes.

Sam Caplan: Your opponent next Wednesday will be Alex Karalexis. Everyone knows he’s a big hitter. Do you feel he has more than a puncher’s chance though?

Bart Palaszewski: Oh yeah. He’s got more skills than just his hands. That’s his main weapon, if you want to call it. He does bring a lot heat with his punches and that’s the thing you’ve got to be careful for. But he knows the ground game. Everyone cross-trains these days. So I’ve just got to be careful of his takedowns and top position because at 155 he’s probably a powerful guy so I’ve got to be careful of everything. But I definitely don’t want to get hit with one of those right hands, I can tell you that much. I don’t think anyone does.

Sam Caplan: Jamie Varner is the current champ at 155 and will likely face number one contender Donald Cerrone in January. If you’re able to beat Karalexis, how long do you think it will be before you get a title shot?

Bart Palaszewski: I’m not looking past Karalexis right now. I don’t want it too quick, either. I want to work my way up. I want to be a credible contender for the title. I’m not worried about other fights because right now Karalexis is my main concern. But maybe another fight and I can get a shot at a contender spot. So maybe three fights, hopefully, if I am winning decisively. But who knows? The WEC might not be happy with it, or whatever. But like I said, I am in it for the long haul so whatever I need to do, I’m going to do.

Sam Caplan: A friend of yours told me that you’re an avid skateboarded and that during a trip to San Francisco earlier this year that you decided to skate down Lombard Street. He said that there’s a pretty crazy story to go with that and that I should ask you about it.

Bart Palaszewski: (Laughs) Aw, yeah! Right before Jeff’s fight in gym he took us out to dinner because my birthday is May 30, his wife’s is the 25th, and his wife’s sister is the 28th. So we usually celebrate together that week. So it was 31st and Jeff actually took us to dinner in San Francisco and we cruised the streets to check out the scenery and they took us to Lombard Street. And we saw a bunch of kids riding down Lombard Street on food crates. It’s a really weird surfaced road. It’s not like a regular pavement; it’s kind of like a brick or cobblestone, I guess. So they slid pretty well.

I made it all the way down and at the bottom of Lombard Street and there were a bunch of people in apartments having a party. And someone had pegged me with a full can of beer, actually. And I watched it smash right next to my head because I was sitting down when they did it. And it hit right next to my head and I had a couple of Champagnes in me that night so I had some big beer muscles, obviously.

So I freaked out and I was yelling at this party and I said some things I shouldn’t have said and they ended up actually called the cops on me so that ended it pretty quick. I don’t know how that works — they assault me and then they call the cops on me. But as soon they said (they were calling the cops) I decided to get out of there and went back up street and hopped into a limo.

Sam Caplan: Being that it’s Thanksgiving tomorrow, I wanted to ask if there was anyone you wanted to thank?

Bart Palaszewski: Oh yes, for sure. Tapout, Suckerpunch Entertainment, Gamma-O, Critical Fight Gear, Big Frog Nutrition, all of the guys at Team Curran. And Jeff, my head coach. Doug, my boxing coach. William Davis, my strength and conditioning coach. And all of the guys from [not audible] that helped me with my wrestling.

In addition to Miguel Torres defending his WEC bantamweight title vs. number one contender Manny Tapia, bantamweight prospects Will Ribeiro and Brian Bowles will due battle; former IFL featherweight champion Wagnney Fabiano debuts vs. Akitoshi Tamura; and Urijah Faber-protege Joseph Benavidez will square off with Danny Martinez in a bantamweight clash.

Six fights have been confirmed for the undercard, with Mark Munoz taking on Ricardo Barros in the final light heavyweight fight in WEC history; former NCAA champion Johny Hendricks facing Justin Haskins in a welterweight bout; former NCAA All-American Shane Roller vs. Mike Budnik in a lightweight tilt; former IFL lightweight standout Bart Palaszewski making his WEC debut vs. Alex Karalexis; featherweights Cub Swanson vs. Hiroyuki Takaya are slated to go head-to-head; welterweight Blas Avena will return vs. Kevin Knabjian; and featherweights Diego Nunes and Cole Province also scheduled to compete against each other.

The winner of the Ribeiro vs. Bowles fight could end up facing the winner of the Torres vs. Tapia fight at a future date while Haskins was signed to the card as a replacement for Alex Serdyukov. Province is also a replacement for Massachussets-native Josh Grispi, who was forced to pull out of the event due to injury. The Avena vs. Knabjian matchup was also just added.

The two new additions are scheduled to debut against each other at WEC 37 on Dec. 3 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, according to a report by MMA Weekly.

Benavidez is a perfect 9-0 in his professional mixed martial arts career and raised his profile following a first round submission victory against Junya Kudo at DREAM 5 in Japan this past July. A member of Urijah Faber’s gym in Sacramento, Benavidez had originally been scheduled to fight against Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto before he pulled off the card due to injury and was replaced by Kudo.

Martinez is 12-2 and a strong prospect in his own right. The Arizona native has competed in Canada for the TKO promotion and is currently the Rage in the Cage bantamweight champion. Martinez’s last bout took place for the Evolution MMA promotion this past October, where he submitted Joey Marimberga at 1:21 of round 3.

Benavidez and Martinez join a deep WEC bantamweight division that includes champion Miguel Torres, number one contender Manny Tapia, veteran Jeff Curran, prospect Will Ribiero, Brian Bowles, Marcos Galvao, Scott Jorgensen, Yoshiro Maeda, Rani Yahya, and Damacio Page.

Torres will be headling WEC 37 when he defends his title against Tapia with Ribiero and Bowles also in action against each other. Non-bantamweight bouts scheduled for the card include featherweights Akitoshi Tamura vs. Wagnney Fabiano, featherweights Josh Grispi vs. Diego Nunes, featherweights Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Cub Swanson, lightweights Shane Roller vs. Mike Budnik, welterweights Alex Serdyukov vs. Johny Hendricks, lightweights Bart Palaszewski vs. Alex Karalexis, and light heavyweights Mark Munoz vs. Ricardo Barros.

The news is courtesy of a report on MMA Weekly.

Munoz had been scheduled to fight Steve Steinbess at WEC 36 on Sept. 10 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla. but was forced to pull off the card due to injury. WEC 36 would ultimately be postponed until Nov. 5 due to Hurricane Ike, but Munoz was never booked for the re-scheduled event.

Zuffa will be disbanding its middleweight and light heavyweight divisions upon the completion of WEC 37 with Munoz expected to be transferred to the UFC regardless of whether he wins or loses.

WEC 37, which will air live on VERSUS, is slated to be headlined by WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres defending his title vs. Manny Tapia.

The news was first reported by MMA Weekly.

Both Fabiano and Tamura are ranked as top ten featherweights, according to most pundits. The high-profile matchup has led some to speculate that the clash between the two could garner the winner a shot at the winner of the WEC 36 featherweight title fight between incumbent Urijah Faber and challenger Mike Thomas Brown that’s now set for November.

Fabiano, 10-1, is a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and is currently on a six-fight win streak. Competing in both the IFL’s 145 pound and 155 pound divisions, Fabiano holds notable victories in his career against Bao Quach, Shad Lierley, L.C. Davis, Matt Fiordirosa, and John Gunderson. His lone loss was against the WEC’s Jeff Curran via decision in October of 2006.

Tamura, 12-6-2, has never fought for the WEC in spite of his reputation as one of the world’s best in his weight class. Competing primarily for the Japan-based Shooto promotion, the 28-year old holds notable wins over Rumina Sato, Takeshi Inoue, and Ian Loveland.

WEC 37 is set to be headlined by Miguel Torres defending the WEC bantamweight title against Manny Tapia. FiveOuncesOfPain.com was also the first to break the news that Johny Hendricks will be fighting Alex Serdyukov on the card in a welterweight bout with lightweights Shane Roller and Mike Budnik doing battle as well.

Goulet is coming off a knockout victory over Kuniyoshi Hironaka at UFC 83 in Montreal. The fight earned Fight of the Night honors from the UFC and both fighters earned $75,000 bonuses for their crowd pleasing affair.

Kelly is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Paul Taylor at UFC 80 and was likely put on the card to appease the UK fans who lost a main event when Chuck Liddell pulled off the card with an injury.

Kelly is known for slugging, as is Goulet, but Goulet might have the weakest chin of any MMA fighter on the planet (although James Thompson is giving him a run for his money), so this one could end quickly.

Check out more UFC 85 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com!

– In case you missed it, MMAjunkie.com (formerly UFCjunkie.com) reported the other day that Jason Reinhardt is claiming his next match will be at UFC 78 in Newark against Joe Lauzon. It looks like Joe and Karo Parisyan will be on the same card after all.

– The guys at Junkie also broke the news the other day that the match between Pete Sell vs. Nate Quarry scheduled for UFC Fight Night 11 on Sept. 19 has been bumped up to the televised portion of the card. The match replaces the bout that was to have taken place between Jonathan Goulet and Mike Swick. Goulet is still expected to appear on the preliminary portion of the card against Dustin Hazelett.

– Junkie is also reporting that Corey Hill has opt of a joining Matt Hughes’ new gym in Illinois. Man, when is that guy going to finally make his UFC debut and get his career rolling?

– Spencer Fisher has left a message on his MySpace page that his next UFC fight could be in November. Fisher was scratched from the UFN 11 card after contracted staph infection.

– UFCjunkie.com is citing a report in the Biloxi Sun-Herald middleweight Alan Belcher has signed a new four fight contract with the UFC. His next fight is scheduled for UFC 77 in Cincinnati on Oct. 20 against Kalib Starnes. If Belcher can string together a few more victories then you never know what might happen in the wide open UFC middleweight division.

– According to The Fight Network, Dustin Hazelett has been offered a chance to fight Jonathan Goulet at UFC Fight Night 11 on Sept. 19 as the injury replacement for Mike Swick.

– Ryan from FightLinker.com is reporting that according to Jorge Oliviera, Evan Tanner could end up fighting Dean Lister at UFC 79. Right now UFC 79 is looking like it will be taking place on Dec. 29 at either the MGM or Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas (although, one would hope the UFC would try and book the Thomas & Mack if Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva ends up being signed). According to Ryan, Oliviera is a training parter of Tanner’s. I enjoy Ryan’s site and I’m not questioning him on his info, but I won’t believe that Tanner is coming back to the UFC until I actually see him enter the Octagon again.

– My recently conducted interview with UFC president Dana White could be appearing on CBSSports.com sometime today. I’ll post an update here when it goes live.

MMAWeekly.com was able to confirm the report with American Kickboxing Academy instructor “Crazy” Bob Cook. According to the site, Swick injured his ribs during training.

The injury to Swick leaves the main portion of the card sans one fight. Still scheduled for the main card are bouts between Din Thomas vs. Kenny Florian, Chris Leben vs. Terry Martin, and Nate Diaz vs. Junior Assuncao.

If the UFC feels it needs a fourth match for the show, they can choose from a preliminary card that’s slated to include fights between Cole Miller vs. Leonard Garcia, Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs. Thiago Alves, Nate Quarry vs. Pete Sell, Luke Cummo vs. Edilberto de Oliveira, Gray Maynard vs. Joe Veres, and Goulet vs. TBA.

My vote for a fourth TV bout would go to Hironaka vs. Alves but I’d also be real curious to see Quarry vs. Sell.