The WEC brought their show outside Las Vegas for the first time since Zuffa purchase them and provided the fans in New Mexico with plenty of MMA action. The Santa Ana Center in Rio Rancho, New Mexico was filled with 4,648 fans that saw two titles change hands and only two decisions the whole night.

Leonard Garcia, a Lubbock Texas native, made his WEC debut at 145 and finished his opponent, Hiroyuki Takaya, quickly. Leonard answered the bell and delivered an overhand right to the chin of Takaya and quickly followed him in with some brutal standing punches to the sitting Takaya, forcing the ref to wave off the fight.

Leonard was ecstatic after the match and loudly proclaimed, “At 145, who wants some? I want a title shot!”

The night was not without controversy as Manny Tapia and Antonio Banuelos threw punches from beginning to end of their match. Antonio entered the Octagon with Chuck Liddell in his corner and was clearly the crowd favorite. The two fought hard and wanted nothing in the way of submissions. Manny was the stronger of the two, manhandling Antonio throughout the match, but Antonio was quicker and utilized the Octagon space better. The match went back and forth and eventually landed in the judges laps and hence the controversy. The first pronouncement of a decision was a split draw, with one of the judges scoring a 28-28. A few minutes later and after much confusion and booing, the announcer pronounced a change in the third judges score that gave the match to Manny Tapia.

The crowd booed Manny but he was gracious and answered, "That's all right, I love you anyways."

Carlos Condit, WEC Welterweight champion, proved why he is ranked among the top welterweights in the world by defeating Carlo Prater on the ground and from his back. Carlo Prater didn't let the action stay standing for long at the start of the bout and successfully swept the champ to the mat. Despite his advantageous top position, Carlo Prater couldn't take advantage of the situation. Condit out-worked him by swimming in with his hands and constantly maintaining a high guard. When Carlo failed to posture up, Condit applied a series of submission attempts that ultimately ended with a guillotine choke forcing Carlo to tap out.

Carlos is from New Mexico and was especially ebullient after avenging an earlier loss to Carlo Prater and defending his championship belt. “It feels great. More than that, I’m just speechless right now, it feels great to fight in front of my hometown.”

Jamie Varner arrived on the scene with a bang by defeating the reigning lightweight champion "Razor" Rob McCullough and he did it with everything but submissions. Jamie Varner, a known wrestler, used his new found boxing skills to eventually put away the the kickboxer Rob McCullough. Jamie was dropped early in the third round but weathered the storm, found his range, and let fly a flurry of punches that ended with an overhand right on the chin and felled the champion. Rob was strong and was able to battle back up to his feet but another overhand right ended the evening and forced the referee to step in and declare Jamie Varner the new lightweight champion.

Jamie was extremely respectful to the ex-champ after the fight. “He is a great champion. I expect to see him here … for the title again.”

The last championship bout featured Chase Beebe, the current bantamweight champion, and Miguel Torres, the eventual winner of the match. Miguel out-pointed Chase on the feet with some vicious kicks and was beating Chase to the punch but the ground game is what set them apart. Chase took the action to the ground, forcing Miguel to pull a high guard. Chase landed some decent elbows but Miguel constantly worked his legs up the torso, going for an armbar that turned to an omaplata, then an anaconda, and ended in a guillotine choke that forced the champ to tap and relinquish his belt.

Not one of the televised bouts was disappointing and the action was intense. Two belts changed hands and the crowd was pleasing. The added bonus was that it was on free TV for all the world to see. Definitely a worthwhile 2 and 1/2 hours. The final scoring for each fight, including the non-televised dark matches, were as follows:

-Carlos Condit def. Carlo Prater by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 3:48, R1
-Jamie Varner def. Rob McCullough by KO (Punch) at 2:54, R3
-Miguel Torres def. Chase Beebe by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 3:59, R1
-Manny Tapia def. Antonio Banuelos by Split Decision, R3
-Leonard Garcia def. Hiroyuki Takaya by KO (Punches) at 1:31, R1
-Josh Grispi def. Mark Hominick by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 2:55, R1
-Coty Wheeler def. Del Hawkins by Submission (Armbar) at 1:57, R2
-Damacio Page def. Scott Jorgensen by Unanimous Decision, R3
-Yoshiro Maeda def. Charlie Valencia by TKO (Body Kick) at 2:29, R1
-Micah Miller def. Chance Farrar by KO (Punch) at 1:39, R1