WEC 45: Cerrone vs. Ratcliff Preview

Tomorrow night WEC 45: Cerrone vs. Ratcliff  takes place at the Peril at the Palms in Las Vegas. MMA fans will be able to watch the event on Versus at 10pm ET.

For the gambling degenerates here are the odds for the event. 

Don't forget to check out our preview podcast of WEC 45. 

Previews

Donald Cerrone (10-2, 1 NC) vs. Ed Ratcliff (7-1)

The evening's main event features a lightweight bout between Donald Cerrone and Ed Ratcliff. Cerrone has the nasty habit of losing title fights but beating the shit out of the winner, just ask Jamie Varner and Ben Henderson. 

Cerrone should be able to deal with Ed Ratcliff fairly easy (at least the odds tell me that). Still, WKR isn't so sure that we should dismiss Ratcliff. While Ed may be a little green his nickname is "9mm" that alone brings images of Omar from the Wire to mind and you can bet WKR is uncomfortable picking against Omar. 

SBN coverage of WEC 45: Cerrone vs. Ratcliff

Chris Horodecki (13-1) vs. Anthony Njokuani (11-2)

Chris Horodecki is an IFL veteran with his sole loss coming against the journeyman, Ryan Schultz. Unfortunately Horodecki will be making his WEC debut against knockout artist Anthony Njokuani. Both fighters have talked about the desire to slug it out in the co-main event and their skill sets would make a brawl seem like a logical result. 

If Njokuani wins expect to see some break dancing.  

Joseph Benavidez (10-1) vs. Rani Yahya (15-4)

Joseph Benavidez is a tiny bantamweight. He may be listed at 5'4" but there is no way this guy is over 5'2". Despite Benavidez vertical issues he has only lost to the current bantamweight #1 contender, Dominick Cruz. Joseph also has a strong wrestling base as evidence by Benavidez's victory over Junya Kuda at Dream 5. 

Rani Yahya is a Rickson Gracie fighter and all four of Yahya's WEC victories have come via submission. 

Expect this bout to turn into a classic wrestler vs. jiu-jitsu fight. 

Scott Jorgensen (7-3) vs. Takeya Mizugaki (12-3-2) 

Talk about a perfect fight to start off a live broadcast. 

Takeya Mizugaki exploded on the WEC scene when he stepped in as a last minute replacement to fight Miguel Torres (who was the bantamweight champion at the time). Their fight became an instant classic and everyone jumped on the Mizugaki bandwagon. Unfortunately the Mizugaki who took the champion to the judges' score cards didn't show up in his last fight against Jeff Curran who Takeya barely beat via split decision. So which Takeya Mizugaki shows up? The one who can hang with the champ or the one who barely wins a split decision?

Scott Jorgensen is showing a lot of bluster in the pre-fight interviews and even believes that a win here puts him into title contention. While Jorgensen is currently an underdog his Boise St. wrestling skills may be perfect to smoother Mizugaki's boxing and judo. 

SBN coverage of WEC 45: Cerrone vs. Ratcliff