Rob McCullough Ready for Title Defence

Wednesday night will see the return to the ring of WEC lightweight champion “Razor” Rob McCullough to make the first defence of his belt against Richard "Cleat" Crunkilton at World Extreme Cagefighting 30.

McCullough, who won the title when he submitted Kit Cope by strikes at World Extreme Cagefighting 25 earlier this year, is an accomplished Muay Thai fighter and is on the back of a string of nine straight victories. He will, however, have his work cut out for him in the match against Crunkilton in what should be an exciting battle between two very different styles - McCullough the striker against the almost all-out wrestler, Crunkilton. Crunkilton also brings a very scary record to the fight, having lost only once in fourteen matches, and that by decision to UFC fighter Hermes Franca.

McCullough is upbeat about the fight and thinks that staying a champion requires more work than becoming one, "When you first start, you go to the gym and train hard just so you can be a champion. Then, when you become champion, you realize that you have to work twice as hard because everyone wants to kick your ass. Honestly, it makes it that much better and it's going to make the win that much better as well."

The fight card, which was meant to be Jens Pulver WEC debut before he withdrew with an injury, also features the WEC Bantamweight title fight between champion Chase Beebe and Rani Yahira. Both fighters have renowned ground and submission skills, but Beebe feels that Yahira is too one-dimensional, and feels he will exploit that to his advantage. “I wasn’t all that impressed, to be honest with you,” said Beebe. “He does have phenomenal jiu-jitsu skills and it’s definitely something I’ve been working hard with because I know he’s gonna throw some crazy stuff at me, but as far as his wrestling and standup are concerned, I’m not too sure where he’s at. I know he was desperate to get on the ground with Mark Hominick (at World Extreme Cagefighting 28) because Hominick’s a good standup fighter, but in this game, I think it’s all about being well-rounded these days. You’ve got to be disciplined in all three (stand-up, wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu), and I think he just excels in one. I hope he doesn’t try to do that (the takedown attempts) against me because he’s gonna catch a knee or something bad trying to dive in like that.”

Whoever wins the match will also be paying close attention to the other bantamweight fight on the card, between Jeff Bedard and Miguel Torres, which should decide the next potential challenger for the title. This is another bout between wrestler (Bedard) and striker (Torres) and should lead to an entertaining matchup.

Also featuring on the card, light heavyweight Jeremiah Billington comes up against Silver star winning Iraq-war veteran Brian Stann.

Other bouts: Joe Benoit vs Blas Avena; Cory Wheeler vs. Ian McCall; Kenneth Alexander vs. Donald Cerrone; Bryan Baker vs. Jesse Forbes; Scott McAfee vs. Marcus Hicks and Marcelo Brito vs. John Alessio.