In a fight that few people expected to go past the first round, Leonard Garcia and George Roop grinded out a three-round classic that ended in a 29-27, 27-29, 28-28 draw.

The two both were clearly going for a first round knockout, swinging for the fences with every punch. Leonard Garcia spent one minute of the round in a guillotine, but couldn't finish it.

The secound round started on the feet, with both fighters throwing big punches and kicks. Again, Roop took Garcia down and Garcia tried for the guillotine. After escaping the guillotine, Roop tried to get back to his feet, and while standing, landed a knee on Garcia's head. Due to that foul, Garcia was given a moment to recover, which helped him as he finished the round with strong standup.

In the third round, Roop tried the exact same strategy, throwing leg kicks and eating punches before taking Garcia down. This time, Garcia recovered and got back to his feet quickly.

After Roop kicked Garcia in the crotch, the fight was paused

A match that turned into a kickboxing fight was ended with a knee in the first round by Ricardo Lamas, knocking out Bendy Casimir at 3:43.

The two started the bout trading kicks. Though they both tried to get the fight to the ground -- Casimir with a low double and Lamas with a single leg -- high kicks dominated the bout. When Casimir went in for another shot, Lamas threw a perfect left knee, knocking out Casimir's mouthpiece, and putting Casimir out cold on the canvas.

"I knew I had to finish this fight," said Lamas, who has two decision wins and a TKO loss in the WEC. He then credited Casimir for being a tough opponent.

Paixao notches quick submission

Fredson Paixao showed off his jiu-jitsu prowess with a rear naked choke in 2:39 in the first over Courtney Buck at WEC 47.

Buck started out strong, stalking Paixao around the cage and knocking Paixao to the ground with a kick. Unfortunately for Buck, the ground is where Paixao is most comfortable. Paixao quickly took control of Buck,

Welcome to Cagewriter's live blog for WEC 47: Cruz vs. Bowles. The undercard kicks off soon with the televised card going on Versus at 10 p.m. ET. Stick with us, and feel free to use this post as an open thread to make your fight predictions.

At Thursday's open workouts, veteran fighter Jens Pulver happily showed off his new Tapout shirt, a riff on the boxers in the video game classic "Mike Tyson Punch-Out." Seeing that before the creation of Wii, MTPO was the last video game I played regularly, I was impressed.

More impressive was how Pulver came to have this shirt as his own. He saw the shirt's sketches when it was intended to be a signature shirt for Tapout crew member Skyskrape. Pulver said he wanted the shirt, and Skrape waffled. Then Pulver rattled off the cheat code for "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out," and Skrape handed the shirt over.

You can buy Pulver's shirt here for $28.99.

Miguel Torres and Joseph Benavidez are looking to make a statement with their WEC 47 bout this weekend. Torres needs to let the world know that his one loss to Brian Bowles didn't sideline his career, while Benavidez is trying to re-establish himself as a title contender.

"I can't underestimate him," Torres said. "He's the most dangerous opponent I've ever faced. This fight is more important than any title fight. It's going to put a statement on the rest of my career."

Benavidez thinks that a win over Torres will set up a bantamweight title shot, and feels more prepared for the bout because he isn't coming off a loss like Torres is. Torres' last bout was the loss to Bowles. Benavidez lost to Dominick Cruz on that same night, but then quickly TKOed Rani Yahya in December.

"I think this fight is a fight away from the title with me and Miguel. This is a title fight for me. This is the biggest fight I've had," Benavidez said. "I lost, and that happened for a reason. I was happy that I got

When Dominick Cruz steps into the cage on Saturday night to face Brian Bowles for the WEC bantamweight title, it won't be the same guy who faced Urijah Faber in a title shot three years ago.

"I've got three years experience in the WEC [since the last title fight,]" Cruz said. "I learned a lot about media, about questions that are going to be asked, and judgments that are going to be made, how to brush them off, how to take everything in stride, how to not let your head get big."

Since that loss to Faber -- a first-round guillotine submission -- Cruz has been on a five-win streak. Those wins have given him the confidence to happily take the title shot. Bowles is known for finishing fights, but that doesn't bother Cruz.

"I think I can finish anybody in my division. I think I have the power. I think I have the skill. I think I have everything it takes. It just hasn't happened yet. I'm not going to force it. I'm going to do what I've done in my past five fights, and that's to go out there

It turns out that Shane Victorino isn't the only member of the Philadelphia Phillies to get involved with MMA. Jayson Werth told Yahoo! Sports' own Dave Brown that he owns Capital City Cage Wars, a promotion out of central Illinois.

JW: I actually have a very small, modest company back home and we put on pro and amateur MMA fights. Capital City Cage Wars. It's a couple years old. It's a minor success. It's more for entertainment purposes.

DB: Wait ... your own your personal MMA minor league?

JW: We've got a large venue — we bring upwards of 2,000 people. We have two or three fighters already in the UFC (including Matt Hughes, a nine-time World Welterweight Champion). It's actually really cool, because I don't have to go anywhere to see MMA, UFC-style fights. I can watch them, basically, in my back yard.

With Werth's schedule, it might be difficult to get to many bouts, so why not go ahead and buy a promotion? He made it to UFC 101, which started not long after a game ended for the

The Cagewriter chat with WEC fighters Scott Jorgensen and L.C. Davis starts at noon E.T. You ask questions, we'll give answers. We'll also give away a pair of tickets at some point in the chat. Stick with Cagewriter. We'll take you places.

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone for stopping by, and congratulations to Erik Strong, our ticket winner.