The World Extreme Cagefighting promotion is holding it’s last ever event tonight at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

Tonight’s WEC 53: Henderson vs. Pettis event is already underway with the preliminary matches which began at 6PM EST (3PM EST), while the main Versus televised card begins at 830PM EST (530PM PST).

WEC 53 features two title bouts in the main and co-main event slots.

Defending his WEC lightweight title is champ Benson Henderson who takes on top challenger Anthony Pettis. The winner moves on to a #1 contender position for the UFC lightweight title. While WEC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz takes on Scott Jorgensen for the first UFC 135 lbs title.

The MMA News will be keeping the live results off the main page. To view the full results click

Main Card

Lightweight Championship bout: Anthony Pettis def. Ben Henderson via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) to become the #1 UFC contender and last WEC lightweight champ
Bantamweight Championship bout: Dominick Cruz def. Scott Jorgensen via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) to become the first UFC Bantamweight champion
Lightweight bout: Donald Cerrone def. Chris Horodecki via submission (triangle choke) – R2 @ 2:43
Lightweight bout: Kamal Shalorus def. Bart Palaszewski via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)

Preliminary Card

Lightweight bout: Danny Downes def. Tiequan Zhang via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
Lightweight bout: Shane Roller def. Jamie Varner via submission (rear-naked-choke) – R1 @ 3:55
Bantamweight bout: Brad Pickett def. Ivan Menjivar via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Bantamweight bout: Eddie Wineland def. Ken Stone via knockout (slam) – R1 @ 2:11
Lightweight bout: Danny Castillo def. Will Kerr via knockout (punches) – R1 @ 1:25
Lightweight bout: Yuri Alcantara def. Ricardo Lamas via knockout (punches) – R1 @ 3:26
Bantamweight bout: Renan Barao def. Chris Cariaso via submission (rear-naked choke) – R1 @ 3:47

Tonight WEC bantamweight fighter Scott “Young Guns” Jorgensen (11-3) steps into the cage for the biggest fight of his career. He’ll be facing Dominick Cruz in a bantamweight title bout, with the winner moving on to become the first UFC bantamweight champion.

Jorgensen knows how tough Cruz can be having only one loss to his career, but “Young Guns” insists that Cruz has never met a fighter like himself, one that won’t quit.

“He [fought] Joseph Benavidez, who he’s beaten before, and Joseph’s a little bit smaller, and then he had Brian Bowles quit on him. One, he’ll never get me to quit, and two, I’m not small. I’m big and I’m strong…He moves a lot to avoid having to stand there and fight. Anybody — I can run for 25 minutes, you can. The difference with me and the way I fight and the way other people fight him is I’m not going to give him that ability to run, to move like he has. I’m going to take that away from him.”

Jorgensen has won five straight fights to earn the last WEC bantamweight title shot, sporting a 7-2 record under the WEC banner. He’s already fought three times this year defeating Brad Picket via unanimous decision at WEC 50, Antonio Banuelos by unanimous decision at WEC 48, and Chad George at WEC 47 by submission.

“Young Guns” will meet Cruz in the co-main event of tonight’s WEC 53: Henderson vs. Pettis event at the Jobing.co Arena in Glendale, Arizona. Their fight will be featured on the Versus main card broadcast.

HT: Sherdog.com

Press Release

Laguna Beach, CA – December 15, 2010 – Hot on the heels of signing professional fighters Anthony “Showtime” Pettis and Chad “Money” Mendes, FORM Athletics proudly announces the addition of bantamweight mixed martial artist Scott Jorgensen to the team. Scheduled to face Dominick Cruz at WEC 53, the winner of the bout will become the inaugural UFC Bantamweight Champion.

Mark Miller, President of FORM Athletics, says of Jorgensen, “We are very excited to have Scott join our team of elite athletes – we admire his spirit and determination. His unique personality, highly competitive nature and history of athletic success make him a perfect fit for FORM. We all wish him the best in his title fight on December 16th.”

Born in 1982, Jorgensen was practically weaned on wrestling, beginning to wrestle in 3rd grade and continuing throughout college for Boise State University. Jorgensen is a three-time Pac-10 Champion and finished in the top 12 at the NCAA National Tournament.

With a record of 11 wins, 3 losses and 0 draws, some of Jorgensen’s career highlights include victories over Frank Gomez, Kenji Osawa, Antonio Banuelos, and Takeya Mizugaki. Jorgensen defeated Noah Thomas via TKO in the first round at WEC 43, Takeya Mizugaki via unanimous decision at WEC 45 (earning Fight of the Night honors), and Chad George at WEC 47 via submission just 31 seconds into the first round with a modified front guillotine neck-crank. Jorgensen most recently defeated Brad Picket on August 18, 2010 at WEC 50.

Jorgensen sites his reason for joining FORM Athletics as, “Their creative style. With so much clothing being testosterone driven, they are not afraid to do stuff with a lot of color – they step outside of the MMA box. I’ve been a fan and I’m excited! My walk out kit is something I’d wear anywhere and I’m stoked for that.”

Facing Dominick Cruz at WEC 53 on December 16, 2010 the last and final WEC event of all time, Jorgensen will battle for the WEC Bantamweight Championship. A lot is on the line, with the winner becoming the first UFC Bantamweight Champion of all time!

FORM Athletics welcomes Scott Jorgensen to the family!

About FORM Athletics (www.formathletics.com)

Founded in 2010 in Laguna Beach, CA, FORM Athletics is a division of K·Swiss. The clean athletic style of FORM apparel ties directly back to the brand ethos, and promise to promote and celebrate the athletes’ commitment and dedication to their sport. FORM Athletics values athleticism not aggression. FORM Athletics supports and promotes a healthy and active lifestyle. Founded by sportswear veteran Mark Miller and WEC former Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber, FORM Athletics merges the ease and comfort of the California lifestyle, with the discipline and techniques of martial arts. FORM Athletics is committed to premium quality, superior materials, and perfect fit apparel. More on FORM Athletics at: www.formathletics.com

Lightweight Ben “Smooth” Henderson (12-1) is prepared to step into the cage tonight for the last time as the WEC lightweight champion, he faces a tough opponent in Anthony “Showtime” Pettis (11-1) in the main event of the very last World Extreme Cagefighting event, WEC 53: Henderson vs. Pettis.

The winner will move on to take the #1 contender position and will face off against the UFC lightweight champ in a unification bout sometime in the future.

Henderson looks as this bout as “just another fight” but wants to look back at this fight, as well as the rest of his career so far, as a stepping stone to improvement.

“I like having more time between my fights. If it were up to me, I’d have it like this every time. I’m not one of those guys that want to fight six or seven times a year. I’m still getting started in this MMA thing; November was four years (competing as a professional) and I have a long way to go still. I can get a lot better – in my boxing, in my kickboxing, in everything – and you can’t get better if you’re just going from training camp to training camp to training camp. You need time in between your fights to actually get better. I want to improve; every time I step into the cage, I want to be better than the last time I stepped into the cage. So I want that time to get better and show improvement. I don’t want to be the same fighter in 2011 that I was now. That’s not going to be me.”

HT: Heavy.com

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Highlights from Wednesday’s weigh-ins for tonight’s WEC 53 event at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

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A battle for two belts as one man will be the last WEC Bantamweight Champion and the first UFC Bantamweight Champion.

Twenty-two fighters hit the scales on Wednesday for the upcoming WEC 53: Henderson vs. Pettis event. All fighters made weight for their respective bouts with weigh-ins taking place at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Ariz., the same venue for Thursday’s event.

The last World Extreme Cagefighting event features a lightweight and bantamweight title bouts in the main and co-main events. Defending his lightweight title will be Ben Henderson who faces Anthony Pettis with the winner moving on to the #1 contender position for the UFC title. While bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz takes on Scott Jorgensen for the first UFC bantamweight title.

The full weigh-in results for WEC 53: Henderson vs. Pettis is as follows:
Main Card

Lightweight Championship bout: Ben Henderson (155) vs. Anthony Pettis (154.5)
Bantamweight Championship bout: Dominick Cruz (134.5) vs. Scott Jorgensen (135)
Lightweight bout: Donald Cerrone (155) vs. Chris Horodecki (155)
Lightweight bout: Bart Palaszewski (156) vs. Kamal Shalorus (156)
Lightweight bout: Danny Downes (154.5) vs. Tiequan Zhang (155.5)

Preliminary Card

Lightweight bout: Jamie Varner (156) vs. Shane Roller (155)
Bantamweight bout: Ivan Menjivar (135) vs. Brad Pickett (136)
Bantamweight bout: Ken Stone (135) vs. Eddie Wineland (136)
Lightweight bout: Yuri Alcantara (154.5) vs. Ricardo Lamas (156)
Lightweight bout: Danny Castillo (155.5) vs. Will Kerr (155)
Bantamweight bout: Renan Barao (136) vs. Chris Cariaso (136)

With the last World Extreme Cagefighting event taking place this Thursday, WEC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz (16-1) is looking forward to defending his title for a second straight time in order to become the first UFC bantamweight champ.

In order to do that, he’ll have to defeat Scott Jorgensen (11-3) when the two meet in the co-main event of WEC 53: Henderson vs. Pettis in Glendale, Arizona. For Cruz, it’s something that he’s looking forward too, in fact it’s all he can think about.

“I ain’t thinking about nothing other than smashing Scott Jorgensen,” Cruz said. “That’s it, that’s all that’s in my head, period. He’s one of the top five in the division and that’s what I’m most happy about fighting him. He’s got a real in-your-face style. He’s just in your face with pressure, with good steady boxing and his hands have gotten a lot quicker (recently). That’s one thing I’ve noticed … The best way to explain Jorgensen is probably like a grimy fighter. You know, he’s the kind of guy that when you hit him he kind of gets more into the fight. And as each round goes on he starts to feel more and more comfortable in the cage. I’m very similar to that and I see this fight very similar in a lot of ways in that sense that we’re both getting stronger as the fight goes on.

“So I think it’s just going to be an awesome fight. He’s got a wicked guillotine. He’s proved that in all of his fights pretty much, so guillotine defense is going to be key. In order for me to win this fight I just need to do as I’ve done before, take the pace of the fight, stay very mobile, very hard to find and keep a high tempo and a high pace in every aspect. And just mix it up; high, low, high, low and you know I can work a lot of ground game and I could take this fight wherever I need to. And I’m very confident in any aspect in this fight. So I’m just excited to fight one of the better guys in the world and go out there and prove why I’m better.”

Cruz is on a seven fight win streak and is 6-1 under the WEC banner. He made his WEC debut in March of 2007 against Urijah Faber for the WEC featherweight title, losing by submission in the first round. Since then Cruz has gone on to win seven straight including, six in the WEC after making his drop to bantamweight. He defeated Brian Bowles for the bantamweight title in March of this year at WEC 47, and went on to defend it against Joseph Benavidez at WEC 50 in August, winning a split decision to retain the title.

HT: UFC.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

The last World Extreme Cagefighting event, WEC 53: Henderson vs. Pettis takes place on December 16th at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona. The event features two title bouts for the lightweight and bantamweight belts. Lightweight champ Ben Henderson defends his title against Anthony Pettis in the main event while bantamweight title holder Dominick Cruz faces Scott Jorgensen in the co-main event.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Inside MMA hosts Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten preview this weeks upcoming WEC 53 lightweight title bout between champ Ben Henderson and challenger Anthony Pettis.

WEC 53: Henderson vs. Pettis takes place this Thursday, Dec. 16th, at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona. The main card will air live on the Versus network and will be the last WEC event before the it officially merges with the UFC.

The Official WEC 53 Fight Card

Main card

Lightweight Championship bout: Ben Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis
Bantamweight Championship bout: Dominick Cruz vs. Scott Jorgensen
Lightweight bout: Donald Cerrone vs. Chris Horodecki
Lightweight bout: Bart Palaszewski vs. Kamal Shalorus
Lightweight bout: Zhang Tie Quan vs. Danny Downes

Preliminary card

Lightweight bout: Jamie Varner vs. Shane Roller
Bantamweight bout: Brad Pickett vs. Ivan Menjivar
Bantamweight bout: Eddie Wineland vs. Ken Stone
Lightweight bout: Danny Castillo vs. Will Kerr
Lightweight bout: Ricardo Lamas vs. Yuri Alcantara
Bantamweight bout: Renan Barão vs. Chris Cariaso

HT: Video via HDNetFights.com