The WEC puts on its next show tonight as WEC 50: Cruz vs. Benavidez 2 takes place from Las Vegas.

The card features a WEC Bantamweight Championship bout between Dominick Cruz and Joseph Benavidez along with a lightweight contest between Shane Roller and Anthony Pettis.

The main card airs live on Versus at 9PM ET. Here are my picks for the winners.

WEC Bantamweight Championship Bout – Dominick Cruz (15-1) vs. Joseph Benavidez (12-1): This fight is a rematch of a bout that happened a little over a year ago where Cruz won a unanimous decision. Now Cruz is the champion and Benavidez is the challenger and in this fight, look for Benavidez to get the nod. He underestimated Cruz and his wrestling in the first fight and anticipated more standup, which left him flat footed and allowed Cruz to control the fight. This time around, Benavidez should be able to dictate the pacing and placement of the fight. I like Benavidez to win by submission in round four.

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A crowd of over 14,000 fans rocked Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif. Saturday night to cheer on their hometown hero, Urijah Faber, as he headed to the cage to take on the World Extreme Cagefighting Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo.

All week the buzz has surrounded the city of Sacramento for this fight between Aldo and Faber, the headline bout of WEC 48, which was presented by AMP Energy. The event was the WEC’s first run at putting on a pay-per-view show and Aldo vs. Faber was the biggest fight the promotion could put on.

But just as much as the fans rocked Arco Arena as Faber headed to the cage with “California Love” blasting in the background, was as quiet as the arena got as Aldo picked apart their king in a decisive five-round unanimous decision victory.

“There is no doubt that (Aldo) is one of the best in the world, period,” WEC and UFC President, Dana White, said of the champion after the fight. “That is of all fighters, not just in his weight division. He’s definitely on the pound-for-pound (best fighters) list.”

Aldo came in as the favorite, but the local crowd truly believed in Faber. After all, he has been the city’s rallying cry seeing as their NBA franchise has struggled in recent years. The town even made April 22 “Urijah Faber Day,” earlier in the week. But, early in the first round of Saturday’s fight, it became clear that Faber was out-matched by the younger and faster Aldo.

From the start, Faber struggled to develop his timing in his strikes while Aldo unleashed leg kicks to Faber’s lead left leg. Late in the opening round Faber started to show signs of ware in the leg, and it only got worse as time passed.

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World Extreme Cagefighting breaks into the Pay-Per View market on Saturday for WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber, presented by AMP Energy, from the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California.

The main card features five fights, including two title bouts. Here is a look at each fight and my expected outcomes.

WEC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo (16-1) vs. Urijah Faber (23-3): This fight is a big one. Not just for the WEC, but for MMA as a whole. Aldo is the young phenom at 24, who has dominated his opponents in a quick and explosive fashion. Faber is the former champion who was considered an unstoppable phenom years ago. Now, at 30, a loss for Faber could change the entire outlook on his career. He will have the bonus of fighting in his hometown, but that won’t matter in the cage. Look for this fight to be explosive but for Faber to utilize his strength and wrestling to get the fight to his advantage. If Faber can survive the opening explosion from Aldo, the fight is his. I suspect Faber will survive and earn a submission win in the fourth round.

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