This is a piece of an artical written by By Frank Curreri on WEC.tv.

Manny Gamburyan vs. Leonard Garcia 

With a potential title shot at stake, Gamburyan frustrated Garcia with takedowns and a smothering top game to claim a unanimous decision. Garcia tried to unleash his monstrous right hand, but Gamburyan judged his distance well and either stayed out of range or stayed super-tight in the clinch, stifling much of Garcia’s offense. The first round saw both men acting with extreme caution, though many judged the round in Garcia’s favor because he was more active in the standup realm with wild punches and kicks. Garcia’s best blow was a straight left to Gamburyan’s grill followed by a body shot.

In round two, Gamburyan found his groove, sidestepping Garcia’s punches and securing two takedowns. The judo expert controlled Garcia from the top, landing a few clean elbows and knees to the body. In round three, after a hard 1-2 punching combination from Gamburyan, Garcia’s frustrations boiled over as he dropped his hands, glared at his opponent and yelled, “Come on! … Come on!” Garcia then swung for the fences, hitting only air. Moments later, with Garcia hyper-emotional, Gamburyan capitalized with another takedown. Garcia stood up and was taken down two more times and ended the match on his back.

The judges awarded Gamburyan the decision by scores of 30-27, 29-28, and 29-28.

“I mean come on … He’s a tough dude,” said Gamburyan, who improved to 11-4. “When Rashad Evans said he hits the hardest…guys, he does hit hard!”

Karen Darabedyan vs. Rob McCullough

Coming into this fight, there was every reason to believe that Karen Darabedyan was in way over his head. The longtime training partner of Karo Parisyan and Manny Gamburyan had taken this fight on short notice, was set to battle a former WEC lightweight champion, and he was making his WEC debut. But it’s a safe bet that anyone who watched this fight card will remember Darabedyan after his performance against McCullough.

The Armenian-American largely abandoned his judo black belt training and instead beat McCullough to the punch for most of their three-round affair. The first round was a boxing match, with Darabedyan repeatedly landing crisp, 1-2 and 1-2-3 combinations. McCullough closed the gap in the second round, and was perhaps more active, but Darabedyan still seemed to land the more telling shots.

The third round was a toss-up as Darabedyan seemed to slow down, fighting like a man who was either tired or presumed he had won the first two rounds and wanted to play it safe. Again, McCullough was the busier fighter with kicks and combinations, but Darabedyan’s blows seemed to hold more consequence. The judges awarded Darabedyan a split decision by scores of 30-27, 27-30 and 29-28. With the win, the promising lightweight improved to 9-1.