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This Saturday, March 6, 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting heads to Columbus, Ohio. Viewers will enjoy a stacked card headlined by a world bantamweight title fight between champion Brian Bowles and number one contender Dominick Cruz.

To view MMA Odds for the full event click here.

What’s more, this is WEC’s first trip to Columbus and it features the return of former bantamweight champion Miguel Angel Torres, as well as the comeback of former UFC lightweight titleholder Jens Pulver.

WEC Bantamweight Title Odds:
BRIAN BOWLES -260
DOMINICK CRUZ +200

For betting purposes, let’s look at the contestants:

BOWLES (8-0, 3 KO’s), the -260 favorite in this fight, gets ready to defend his WEC title for the first time, and he competes for the first time since August. Bowles made his debut as a mixed martial arts fighter on a small card in Georgia called “wild Bills’ Fight Night” back in May of 2006, scoring a submission over Tim Honeycutt. After three wins, he got involved with the World Extreme Cagefighting ranks, and he made Charlie Valencia, whose only previous loss had been to Urijah Faber, submit to a rear naked choke in two rounds. In December of 2007 he scored a very big win, knocking out Brazilian Marcos Galvao with a stunning right hand in the second round. That got Bowles some attention, due to the fact that many considered Galvao to be one of the top three bantamweights in the world.

From there it was just a matter of putting himself in position to challenge for the title. That chance came in August, when he took on WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, an experienced destroyer who had built a 37-1 record. Not many people gave Brian Bowles, who had only seven pro fights under his belt, a shot to win. However, in a furious first round in which both mean threw caution to the winds, Bowles wound up landing a terrific counter right hook that sent Torres to the canvas, and he executed a ground-and-pound that effectively ended the fight. Bowles is a striker who likes to stand up and throw at his opponent, but he is adept at submissions, He is a native of Athens, Georgia who trains at the Hardcore Gym.

CRUZ (14-1, 5 KO’s), the +200 underdog, brings a background in boxing and wrestling into this championship challenge. Dominick Cruz turned pro in MMA back in January of 2005 with a split decision over Eddie Castro. That was for the Rage in the Cage promotion, and he went undefeated for the first six fights, plus three more at another organization, before making his WEC debut with a loss to featherweight champion Urijah Faber, where he was the victim of a guillotine choke.

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He also scored a decision over Charlie Valencia, a common opponent between him and Bowles, at WEC 34. That was the first fight he had after moving down to the bantamweight class. The victory that put Cruz front and center into the 135-pound title picture was a decision over previously undefeated Joseph Benavidez, a protege of Faber, on August 9. That was the same show where Bowles won his title, and so the stage was set.

Strikeforce returns to California to present Strikeforce Challengers Live at the Civic Auditorium in San Jose on Friday. The card will feature four televised fights before the main event battle for the vacant Women’s Featherweight Championship between Canadian Sarah Kaufman (10-0) and Takayo Hashi (12-1) of Japan. 

Strikeforce Challengers

Friday, February 26 th – 11:00 PM ET

Civic Auditorium, San Jose

Sarah Kaufman vs Takayo Hashi

Strikeforce Betting Line: Kaufman -750

The Kaufman-Hashi fight features the two top-ranked female bantamweights in the world according to the Unified Women’s MMA Rankings. The undefeated Kaufman ranks first after registering ten consecutive wins to open her professional MMA career, including two unanimous decision victories in two Strikeforce contests. The ultra-aggressive Kaufman will look to employ a wide variety of Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and wrestling to conquer Hashi, who will be making her Strikeforce debut. Hashi has won eight straight fights since the only loss of her professional MMA career, to Hitomi Akano in 2005. 

Kaufman is too good for Hashi and this should be a quick win for her.

Pick: Kaufman

Trevor Pranley vs Karl Amoussou

Strikeforce Betting Line: Prangley -450

In what is being dubbed the “co-main event” of the night, MMA veteran Trevor Prangley (22-5) will square off with Karl “Psycho” Amoussou (11-2) in a middleweight bout. The 37-year old Prangley has won five straight fights after falling in his Strikeforce debut. Amoussou, a skilled technical fighter that has submitted his opponent in seven of his eleven wins, will be entering the octagon for the first time since the summer of 2009. Amoussou is a relentless striker that keeps his focus on the attack, which makes the experience of Prangley an asset in not becoming vulnerable. 

Pick: Prangley

Luke Rockhold vs Paul Bradley

Strikeforce Betting Line: Rockhold -220

Undefeated since signing on with Strikeforce, Luke Rockhold (6-1) will go to war with Paul Bradley (12-1) in another contest fought at 185 pounds.  An explosive kickboxer with an excellent submission defense, Rockhold has reeled off five straight wins, but will face a tough test against a confident and experienced Bradley. A contestant on the Ultimate Fighter in its seventh season, Bradley dominated Levi Avera in his first fight in Strikeforce, setting up this middleweight bout. 

Expect Rockhold to keep his hot streak going.

Pick: Rockhold

James Terry vs Tarec Saffidiene

Strikeforce Betting Line: Terry -150

Two of the rising stars in Strikeforce’s welterweight division will meet when James Terry (7-1), gets locked in to the octagon with Tarec Saffiedine (7-2). Consecutive decision’s over Zac Bucia has established Terry as a legitimate threat. Now Terry will face off with Saffiedine, who trains out of California with MMA legend Dan Henderson, and will be making his debut in Strikeforce. Although this will be his first fight with the company, Saffidiene has already won three fights against Strikeforce veterans. 

Of all the fights on the UFC 110 card, the main event between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cain Velasquez figured to have the smallest chance of being won by a knockout going in.

But Velasquez turned what one of the closest MMA betting lines in recent memory that wasn’t actually at even odds into a one-sided affair as he knocked out Nogueira in the first round.

Many thought Nogueira, who came in as a slight underdog at -110 odds to -120 for the favorite Veslasquez on BetUs.com, had the edge in the stand-up game as he has more technical boxing according to most UFC betting line enthusiasts and analysts.

But the two fighters threw big right hand shots at each other at about two minutes into the first round and the younger, faster Velasquez beat him to the proverbial punch and knocked Nogueira sideways as he fell hard to the canvas.

About five shots later and Nogueira was out for good, cementing Velasquez as the next big-time UFC heavyweight star and a legitimate contender for Brock Lesnar’s throne.

Velasquez will have to likely wait until after the winner of Frank Mir and Shane Carwin at UFC 111’s turn to get his shot, but he’ll be waiting for whatever the UFC throws at him next.

Also on the night, international MMA superstar Wanderlei Silva made a lot of Michael Bisping haters very happy as he defeated the British sensation by a unaimous 29-28 decision on all three scorecards.

The fight wasn’t really that close according to many observers but Silva solidified his win at the end of the third round with a powerful flurry that knocked Bisping to the ground after he ate a big overhand right from the BetUs.com UFC betting line favorite going into the fight.

Another upset also took place at UFC 110 as Joe Stevenson fell to Australian jiu-jitsu specialist George Sotiropoulos, who was a big underdog on the BetUs.com Sportsbook going into the fight.

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Sotiropoulos frustrated the smaller Stevenson with his reach standing up and reversed him after takedowns several times to gain better positions throughout the fight.

The other two fights on the UFC 110 main card had predictable results as Ryan Bader KO’d Keith Jardine in the third round, catching him with a big left hook that left Jardine unconscious on the mat.

Jardine came to and protested the decision but he was clearly out and lucky that Bader didn’t end up finishing him with strikes on the ground.

Finally, Mirko Cro Cop returned to the Octagon for the first time since his disappointing UFC 105 loss to Junior dos Santos to TKO Anthony Perosh in the second round. Perosh, a late fill-in for Ben Rothwell, the former IFL champion who would have been an underdog to Cro Cop anyway, never had a chance in the fight as the jiu-jitsu black belt was afraid to stand up with the former PRIDE superstar and often resorted to turtling up in the middle of the cage to avoid damage.

Cro Cop seemed in good spirits after the win, however, and he put on a decent performance that the many Croatian fans in attendance seemed to enjoy.