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Weigh-in blog: Sacramento fighters bring along home crowd

All 20 fighters make weight for Wednesday’s card at The Palms

Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2010 | 5:28 p.m.

The official weigh-ins for Wednesday's WEC 50 event took place Tuesday at The Palms.

While the 20 fighters on the card came from all over the world, the crowd seemed to come primarily from Sacramento, Calif.

An injury forced former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber off the WEC 50 card, but the Sacramento-based Team Alpha Male will be well represented Wednesday, with four of its members entering the cage.

Joseph Benavidez (12-1) will lead the Northern California pack, as he takes on current WEC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz (15-1) in his first title shot.

The fight comes almost exactly one year after Cruz handed Benavidez the first and only loss of his career in a unanimous decision Aug. 9, 2009.

"It's another huge fight and something I've waited for," Benavidez said. "I'm a different fighter now and there's no better way to prove it than against the only guy that's ever beat me."

Cruz will enter the fight riding a six-fight win streak. He claimed the belt in his last fight with a TKO win over Brian Bowles in March.

"We fought each other and I've already seen the mistakes he made," Cruz said. "I'll look to exploit those mistakes and keep the title as mine."

All 20 fighters set to compete on Wednesday's card ended up making weight.

Las Vegas-based lightweight contender Shane Roller weighed-in at 156 pounds for his bout against Anthony Pettis. Anthony Njokuani, another lightweight fighting out of Las Vegas, came in at 154 pounds and is set to face WEC newcomer Maciej Jewtuszko.

Doors open for the event at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. The main card will air live on VERSUS.

Full Results:

Dominick Cruz (134) vs. Joseph Benavidez (134)

Anthony Pettis (155) vs. Shane Roller (156)

Chad Mendes (145) vs. Cub Swanson (146)

Scott Jorgensen (135) vs. Brad Pickett (136)

Zach Micklewright (156) vs. Bart Palaszewski (156)

Maciej Jewtuszko (155) vs. Anthony Njokuani (154)

Mackens Semerzier (146) vs. Javier Vasquez (145)

Dave Jansen (156) vs. Ricardo Lamas (155)

Bryan Caraway (145) vs. Fredson Paixao (145)

Dustin Poirier (156) vs. Danny Castillo (156)

Brett Okamoto can be reached at 948-7817 or brett.okamoto@lasvegassun.com. Follow him on Twitter at LVSunFighting

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UFC 141
Brock Lesnar retires after first-round TKO defeat against Alistair Overeem

UFC 141 Alistair Overeem called it his "liver kick". Brock Lesnar just knew it hurt. Overeem sent Lesnar into retirement when he fired his foot into Lesnar's stomach midway through the first round of their heavyweight title eliminator bout. Lesnar crouched in pain after the strike and eventually fell to the mat. Overeem rushed in and threw a few more strikes, but Lesnar had nothing left. The referee pulled Overeem off to officialy give him the next shot at champion Junior dos Santos. In the co-main event, Nate Diaz upset Donald Cerrone after a week full of tempers flaring between the two lightweights.

Main Card Results -
WinnerLoserMethod
Alistair OvereemBrock LesnarTKO
Nate DiazDonald CerroneUnanimous Decision
Johny HendricksNate DiazKnockout
Alexander GustafssonVladimir MatyushenkoTKO
Jimy HettesNam PhanUnanimous Decision

Fight Schedule
DateEventHeadlining MatchLocation
February 3 Boxing: ESPN2 Friday Night Fights Edison Miranda vs. Isaac Chilemba Las Vegas: Texas Station's Dallas Events Center
February 4 UFC 143 Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit Las Vegas: Mandalay Bay Events Center
February 15 UFC on FUEL TV 1 Diego Sanchez vs. Jake Ellenberger Omaha, Neb.
February 16 SCC 4 Kendall Grove vs. Jay Silva Las Vegas: Orleans Arena
February 25 UFC 144 Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson Saitama, Japan