Despite losing the title to Mike Brown back in November, Faber remains the WEC top draw and it reflects in his $48,000 payday. His opponent, Jens Pulver, whom he defeated for the second time in the past ten months, was the event’s second leading earner at $35,000.

The card was headlined by a lightweight title defense by Jamie Varner, who successfully defended his belt for the second time against previously undefeated Donald Cerrone. Varner earned $34,000 as he was paid $17,000 to show and another $17,000 in the form of the win bonus. In comparison, Cerrone received just $9,000 in spite of his main event status.

The information is courtesy of MMAjunkie.com, which obtained the salary figures from the California State Athletic Commission.

The event drew just over 10,000 fans to the San Diego Sports Arena which collected a live gate of $486, 324. The total payroll for the first-ever WEC event in San Diego was $217,000.

Complete salaries are listed below but it should be noted that the figures do not reflect compensation paid to the fighters by their sponsors. Additionally, the below figures do not account for deductions that include fees for insurance, licenses and taxes. And finally, the figures below also do not take into account any undisclosed bonuses awarded by the promotion to the fighter.

WEC 38 Salary Breakdown:

• Jamie Varner: $34,000 (includes $17,000 win bonus) def. Donald Cerrone: $9,000
• Urijah Faber: $48,000 (includes $24,000 win bonus) def. Jens Pulver: $35,000
• Danillo Villefort: $8,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus) def. Mike Campbell: $3,000
• Jose Aldo: $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus) def. Rolando Perez: $3,000
• Ben Henderson: $5,000 (includes $2,000 win bonus) def. Anthony Njokuani: $2,000
• Edgar Garcia: $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus) def. Hiromitsu Miura: $6,000
• Dominick Cruz: $8,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus) def. Ian McCall: $3,000
• Scott Jorgensen: $8,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus) def. Frank Gomez: $2,O00
• Jesse Lennox: $4,000 (includes $2,000 win bonus) def. Blas Avena: $7,000
• Charlie Valencia: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus) def. Seth Dikun: $2,000

The news is according to a report by MMAjunkie.com.

If the matchup between Palaszewski vs. Crunklinton is made official, the winner is expected to challenge the winner of this Sunday’s WEC lightweight title match between incumbent Jamie Varner and challenger Donald Cerrone.

Crunkilton is 16-2 and previously competed for the WEC lightweight title at WEC 30 in September of 2007. Facing then-champion “Razor” Rob McCullugh, Crunkilton lost via TKO at 1:29 of round 1. Since the defeat, he has fought just one, besting Sergio Gomez via unanimous decision at WEC 33 in March of last year.

Palaszewski trains under current WEC bantamweight title contender Jeff Curran and is a former standout with the now-defunct International Fight League. Making his WEC debut at WEC 37 in December, Palaszewski improved to 30-11 overall with a second round TKO over Alex Karalexis.

Garcia was signed to the WEC after accumulating a 6-0 record while competing on the Arizona MMA scene. His most recent victory took place at Total Combat 30 in August, where he recorded a first round TKO over Waylon Kennell. All but one of Garcia’s victories have been first round finishes.

Miura, 9-5, is a former middleweight competitor who is 2-2 in four career WEC fights. The Japan native made his debut for the promotion at WEC 27 in May of 2007, losing a unanimous decision to Jason “Mayhem” Miller. He then proceeded to record back-to-back victories against Fernando Gonzalez at WEC 29 and Blas Avena at WEC 33.

However, it was his loss to Condit which earned him his greatest acclaim in the U.S. Despite being TKO’d by Condit at 4:43 of round 4, Miura went toe-to-toe with the defending champion for most of the bout and provided his stiffest test to date while competing in the WEC.

WEC 38 is scheduled to be held at the San Diego Sports Arena with the event also being televised on VERSUS. Featured matchups on the show include WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner defending his title vs. Donald Cerrone and Urijah Faber rematching Jens Pulver.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com confirmed with news early Thursday morning with McCullough’s agent, Ken Pavia of MMA Agents.

Pavia indicated that the turn around time following McCullough’s last fight at WEC 36 on Nov. 5 and WEC 38 on Jan. 25 is too short. McCullough had to extend what originally was a rigorous eight week training camp to 16 weeks after WEC 36 was moved from September to November in light of Hurricane Ike. Then, he was involved in a physically grueling unanimous decision loss against Donald Cerrone last month that earned “Fight of the Night” honors.

McCullough had been hoping to earn a rematch vs. Jamie Varner following a title loss to him earlier this year at WEC 32 in Albuquerque, N.M.

Hicks, 8-1, suffered the first loss of his career while challenging Varner during Varner’s first defense of the title at WEC 35 this past August. Prior to challenging for the title, Hicks had gone 3-0 while competing under the WEC banner.

The event will mark the first time that the WEC has come to the market and fans in attendance will be treated to a rematch between former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver and former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber as well as Jamie Varner defending the WEC lightweight title vs. Donald Cerrone.

The Jan. 25 fight between Pulver and Faber will be a rematch from their epic first encounter that took place on June 1 in Sacramento and drew a 1.2 rating on VERSUS. Faber expects the second fight between the two to be another memorable tilt.

“I know this is going to be another classic for the fans,” Faber is quoted as saying in a press release issued by the promotion. “Jens is always ready to fight, he’s a competitor, and I expect a tough battle, but I’m going to try to finish it this time – I don’t want it to go the distance.”

Pulver, formerly of Miletich Fighting Systems, lost the first fight via unanimous decision but believes a change in camps will prove to be a difference maker.

“Now that I train with Matt Hume, I’ll be doing things a lot differently,” Pulver is quoted as saying. “Did I show it against Leonard Garcia? No, it takes time. But I know I’m still competitive… Great fights are still in me.”

The promotion has also officially confirmed the previously reported matchup between Varner and Cerrone. In the promotion’s press release, Varner didn’t seem overly concerned by Cerrone’s perfect 9-0 record.

“I have a lot of respect for Cerrone, but I consider him just one more undefeated fighter that I have to put in his place,” said Varner. “I think it’s awesome to have this fight in Southern California; there is a huge MMA following there, so I think this event will be huge, and a big step for the growth of WEC.”

For Cerrone, the title fight will place him in the spotlight for the biggest bout of his career.

“I’m excited for the opportunity to fight for the title, and to take on Jamie Varner,” the Colorado native is quoted.  “He’s well rounded and very athletic, but I’m going to work hard in training camp and on my game plan to win the title. I’m looking forward to fighting in San Diego, and to headline the first WEC event there.”

WEC 38 will be televised nationally on VERSUS starting at 9:30 p.m. ET. Tickets for the event will go on sale on Dec. 4 at 10 a.m. PT.

Villefort was a finalist at the International Fight League’s 2007 Draft tryouts in New York and debuted for the now-defunct promotion with an upset victory over Mike Massenzio on May 16 in Uncasville, Connecticut. Competing on a one-fight contract, the IFL did not attempt to re-sign Villefort while on the verge of financial collapse and the rising middleweight prospect received an offer from the Zuffa-owned WEC soon after.

With a move to the UFC’s middleweight division out of the question after having yet to compete for the WEC, it was thought that Villefort’s contract with Zuffa could be in jeopardy. However, according to a report by the Brazilian website Tatame, Villefort is remaining with the WEC and will move to the promotion’s welterweight division.

Villefort, a native of Brazil, has indicated that both his WEC and welterweight debut is now set for WEC 38 on January 25 in San Diego against an unnamed opponent.

The 8-2 prospect normally walks around at 205 pounds but believes he’ll be able to make the cut safely due to the team’s renowned training staff.

“I (haven’t weighed) 170 pounds since I was 17-years old,” Villefort revealed in an interview with Tatame. “But I don’t know if you ever heard about  (André) Benkei. It’s him who’s making this magic! He makes miracles.”

Villefort is further preparing for the move by changing sparring partners at ATT, opting to work with a lighter group of fighters than before.

“(Normally) I`d train with Thiago Silva and Wilson Gouveia, but I’m (on) the diet and if I don’t watch out in training, I can hurt myself, so I’m already with the 170 guys,” he is quoted as saying. Tatame indicates that Villefort is now sparring with the likes of Gesias Calvancante, Thiago Alves, Gleison Tibau, and Lorenzo Borgomeo.

Published reports had indicated that Faber’s next opponent would be up and coming featherweight prospect Jose Aldo but sources close to both Aldo and Pulver have revealed to Five Ounces of Pain that Faber’s next opponent is indeed Pulver.

Earlier this year, Faber and Pulver headlined the largest show in WEC history on June 1 in Sacramento, Calif. Considered one of the best fights of 2008, Faber retained his WEC featherweight title with a five-round unanimous decision victory.

Both fighters returned to action earlier this month in separate bouts on the same card at WEC 36 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla. with both losing by way of first round TKO.

Faber, 21-2, lost his title in an upset against American Top Team’s Mike Thomas Brown after Brown finished him with punches at 2:23 of round 1. The loss ended Faber’s 13-fight winning streak.

Facing fellow former UFC lightweight Leonard Garcia, Pulver fell to 22-10-1 after he was TKO’d as a result of punches at 1:12 of round 1. In losing, the Miletich Fighting Systems product now has a 1-4 record in his last five fights.

So far, the WEC has yet to officially announce the Jan. 25 event, which has been widely reported by numerous outlets. Reports also indicate that Jamie Varner is expected to defend his WEC lightweight title on the same show against number one contender Donald Cerrone.

After conducting an interview with Lembo and reading Dr. Wulkan’s e-mail, 5 Oz. of Pain contacted Kaitlin Young for comment in response to what Dr. Wulkan and Nick Lembo said regarding the stopping of her fight with Gina Carano. At the time, Young declined to go on the record. However, she e-mailed the following statement to 5 Oz. of Pain this evening and asked that we publish it here.

Below is Kaitlin Young’s official statement in response to Dr. Wulkan’s comments:

If Dr. Wulkan claims that the call was consistent with the standard for ANY MMA show and that it was made out of concern for my health, though I disagree, that is  her own opinion.

However, the notion that I or my corner had ever stated or inferred an agreement with the stoppage is completely false. I readily admit that Gina was getting the better of me at that point in the fight but maintain the opinion that the stoppage was premature and due to gore rather than severe injury. I was coherent, did not yet have an open cut, could still see out of the eye in question and do not have a fractured orbital.

I don’t appreciate my professionalism or character being called in question with false statements.

No vendetta here and all the credit to Gina Carano for a great performance. I look forward to fighting for Elite XC in the future.

I am making that e-mail available here, but I wanted to add that 5 Oz. of Pain contacted both Kaitlin Young and Scott Smith to get their sides of the story. Young declined to comment on the record at this time while Smith was unavailable for comment.

Here is Wulkan’s e-mail:

“When we saw Kaitlin in the cage, we were concerned about an orbital fracture. Both she and her corner were grateful that the fight was stopped and actually thanked us for stopping the fight. When she first returned to the dressing room, she said she wasn’t sure why the fight was stopped, but after looking in the mirror, she was glad we did. That is almost a quote verbatim. She said she was overwhelmed and that Carano definitely got the better of her on this occasion. I don’t read the blogs [Editor's Note: Dr. Wulkan is referring to an alleged post by Kaitlin Young on FighterGirls.com, however, the post has yet to be verified as actually being authored by Young herself], but perhaps she was not well reviewed and this prompted the response you forwarded.

“We did not stop the fight because it looked ugly or because she was a woman, but because she had taken some major abuse, and because we were afraid she had a fracture. The risks of orbital fractures are well known to ringside physicians.

“Her response seems more like a vendetta for not being invited to the interviews . It’s a shame, because she presented herself very professionally both before and after the fight on fight night.

“As a follow up, Drago [editor's note: Pete Sell] told me that Smith said he still was seeing double and triple 15-20 minutes after returning to the locker room. His corner was grateful we made the call we did. I want to know who told the press we didn’t pick up the foot injury at the time it happened. That’s just not precise reporting. I’m glad you cleared that up. I think it’s amazing that Smith himself, although initially disappointed, currently has no problem with the decision; he knows we’re professional and we have both their short term and long term interests at heart. At no time did we hear a complaint from Smith’s corner, so why are the blogs so insistent that an injustice was served? Besides, the rematch will prove to be a war, especially with two healthy fighters.”

No decision has been made as to when she’ll make her EliteXC debut. She joins a women’s division in EliteXC that includes Gina Carano, Shayna Baszler, Tonya Evinger, and Julie Kedzie.

Young, who trains in Minnesota out of the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy, is 4-0. She will look to improve her record to 5-0 this Friday in Las Vegas when she fights Sara Schneider (1-0) for the Tuff ‘N Uff promotion on a card sponsored by BodogFIGHT.

There’s no word whether Friday’s fight will be the final bout on her Bodog contract or if she’ll compete for both promotions.

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