It was a night of chokes and a head kick felt around the world at the Las Vegas, Palms Casino. Alpha Male’s “little pit bull trio” (Faber, Benavidez and Mendes) pull off championship worthy victories over notable opponents at WEC 52. I love to watch the little guys fight! The WEC lightweight fighters are some of the best in the business and tonight’s stacked WEC 52 card was no exception. Out of the five grueling fights on tonight’s card, only one (gets my vote for fight of the night) goes the distance! So what are they putting in the water at Alpha Male gym? Whatever it is it’s building Freakishly strong, cardio fighting machines.

First up to bat for Alpha Male; the hard hitting Joseph Benavidez. Going against one of the best black belt Jiu Jitsu practitioners in Wagnney Fabiano, Joseph Benavidez showed that along with superior punching power he has great ground work. Benavidez dominated the Brazilian submission specialist on the ground for most of the fight. After 2 failed attempts on a guillotine choke, three was the charm for Benavidez who forced Fabiano to tap out at 2:45 in the 2nd round. Tonight’s performance definitely puts Benavidez in the race for title contention.

Next up we is Chad Mendes. Until tonight, Mendes fights bored me to death. Mendes’s last two fights were snore fests to say the least. Don’t get me wrong Chad is a freakishly strong 135 lb wrestler but he spends most of his time laying on top of his opponents. Just when it looked like Mendes was going to pull out another lackluster descision, Referee Herb Dean stood up both fighters. Mendes then beat Javier Vazquez to the punch and cut him over his eye. Mendes continued with pressure on his feet to earn himself a unanimous decision.