Filho enters the US octagon with a bang
By Michael Ronquillo

Mixed martial arts (MMA) fans got their money’s worth on Sunday August 5th as World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC ) delivered a solid pay per view, live from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Touted as the main events of the evening were the title fights of welterweight champion, Carlos Condit, making short work of Brock Larson, while Paulo Filho impressed American fans with an explosive performance against Joe Doerksen.

The challenger Larson outweighed the defending welterweight champion Condit and clearly had the strength advantage. However, Condit proved that technique to be more effective than strength by submitting the aggressive striker with a picture-perfect arm bar from the guard.

"I was expecting to take this fight to him no matter where it was," Condit declared. "Technique over strength, right there."

The stockier Larson attempted to take control of the fight by taking the fight to the ground and raining bombs on the submission specialist. The hunter would become the hunted, however, as the challenger became a little overzealous; all it took was a split second for Condit to swing his left leg over and push his hips up to lock a tight arm bar on the challenger, submitting him in just over 2 minutes into the first round.

In other news, the undefeated Paulo Filho made his presence felt as he finished off Joe Doerksen with lethal strikes to claim the vacant 185 pound strap. The undefeated foreigner appeared to be out of his element in a cage setting, but he quickly adapted as he teed off on the Canadian native. This was a finish that Filho hadn’t planned and he was quite surprised with his opponent.

"He came well prepared; he was well prepared on the ground, he defended my take-down well," said Filho. "I let my hands go and finished the fight."

Doerksen had done his homework, prompting him to keep the fight off the ground. He defended himself effectively from the Brazillian’s takedown attempts by getting up immediately and thus avoiding any ground work. Frustrated, the Pride changed his game plan while adjusting to Doerksen’s fighting style.

The Brazillian Jiu Jitsu specialist, Filho, used strikes, as a surprised Doerksen would find himself on the receiving end of a flurry of punches. The UFC verteran got more than he bargained for, however, as he could not weather the storm of attacks coming from Paulo Filho.

Doerksen was finally saved by referee John McCarthy who stopped the fight before more damage was done by Filho.

Who could think of a better debut than winning the match while also earning the WEC middleweight championship belt!