Doug Marshall

(Chael Sonnen, pre-WEC.)

Chael Sonnen earned some real estate commission-sized dough this week at WEC 33, raking in $34k. The official payouts for all 20 of the event's participants have been released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and Sonnen was the night's big money winner. The event saw Chael easily handle Bryan Baker, and also saw the light heavyweight title switch from Doug Marshall to Brian Stann. The total payout for the night hit $213k, or about what Kimbo makes for winning a fight. After looking at the WEC's payments, the phrase "salary commensurate with experience" comes to mind.

Here's the dish:

-- Brian Stann ($18,000) over Doug Marshall ($10,000)
-- Chael Sonnen ($34,000) over Bryan Baker ($5,000)
-- Marcus Hicks ($10,000) over Ed Ratcliff ($7,000)
-- Steve Cantwell ($8,000) over Tim McKenzie ($6,000)
-- Hiromitsu Miura ($8,000) over Blas Avena ($6,O00)
-- Brock Larson ($24,000) over John Alessio ($15,000)
-- Richard Crunkilton Jr. ($20,000) over Sergio Gomez ($4,000)
-- Alex Serdyukov ($12,000) over Ryan Stonitsch ($3,000)
-- Chris Manuel ($3,000) in a draw with Kenji Osawa ($5,000)
-- Logan Clark ($12,000) over J. Scott Harper ($3,000)

Fighters in the win column got 50% of their haul as base and the other half as a win bonus. Sucks to be Kenji Osawa and Chris Manuel, who fought to a draw and got stuck with only their "to show" money. NSAC head Keith Kizer confirmed to MMAJunkie that the fighters are not given a bonus if a draw happens. That fine print will get you every time.

As always, none of this includes subtractions for insurance, taxes, etc. Let's just hope the fighters had some healthy sponsors to help off-set this brand of payday. We're talkin' Chael Sonnen style sponsorship.

— Our BFFs at Complex just posted an interview with Frankie Edgar, in which "The Answer" discusses entrance music, crotch rockets, being denied by The Ultimate Fighter, and unsanctioned no-holds-barred matches in the Bronx.

— Damon D (of BetUS fame) has a new sports blog called The House of Smack, and it's kind of amazing. Learn about the relationship between UFC event names and shitty action movies, and then check out this list of balls-out hockey goalie fights.

— Frank Shamrock will be a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! tomorrow (12:05am ET/PT, 11:05pm CT), hyping up his fight against Cung Le, which will take place the following night. Apparently, Frank will be giving MMA instruction to "Guillermo the Parking Lot Security Guard," whoever that is. He's also been droning on at Fightline.com for the last couple days. Where does he find the time to train?

— CombatLifestyle's Tracy Lee has an amazing set of photos from the WEC 33 afterparty. Doug Marshall doesn't seem to be taking his loss too hard...

— Tomorrow, Tim Sylvia will announce that he's leaving the UFC and has just booked a fight against Fedor Emelianenko. Well, maybe. If his "big announcement" just has to do with turkey hunting, we're going to be very disappointed.

(Sergio Gomez swings at Rich Crunkilton in the goriest fight of the night. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Doug Marshall's light-heavyweight belt ended up around another guy's waist last night, as Brian Stann got the better of the Rhino in a brief but wild brawl at WEC 33. Marshall took it to the Marine early and seemed to have him in trouble after landing some power punches, but in the midst of the barrage Stann fired off a left hook that connected perfectly, sending Marshall to the mat. Stann threw up his hands in victory before realizing the fight hadn't been stopped yet; after Stann landed a couple of finishing blows from the top, Herb Dean stepped in and called the match at the 1:35 mark. Afterwards, an emotional Stann told the crowd, "All my Marines came with me in this ring. You're all here. This belt represents all of my Marines that were with me, that couldn't be here, that died in combat with me." The win brings Stann's record to 6-0, with all six of his victories coming via first-round TKO.

Chael Sonnen was also dominant in his match with Bryan Baker, spending most of the fight brutalizing Baker with ground-and-pound, and scoring some dramatic takedowns. Though Sonnen wasn't able to earn a victory by stoppage, the judges' scores reflected how lopsided the action was: 30-26, 30-25, and 30-25.

Also notable was the three-round war between Richard Crunkilton Jr. and Sergio Gomez. An elbow from Crunkilton slashed the back of Gomez's head in the first round, opening a gash that spit blood for the remainder of the fight. Though Gomez had his moments during the standup exchanges, Crunkilton's takedowns, GnP, and submission attempts were too much for Gomez to handle, and the judges awarded Crunkilton a unanimous decision.

Full results are below...

— Brian Stann def. Doug Marshall via TKO, 1:35 of round 1
— Chael Sonnen def. Bryan Baker via unanimous decision
— Marcus Hicks def. Ed Ratcliff via submission (guillotine choke) at 1:42 of round 1
— Steve Cantwell def. Tim McKenzie via submission (rear naked choke) at 2:13 of round 1
— Hiromitsu Miura def. Blas Avena via TKO at 2:35 of round 1
— Brock Larson def. John Alessio via disqualification (illegal knee) at 1:50 of round 1
— Rich Crunkilton def. Sergio Gomez via unanimous decision
— Alex Serdyukov def. Ryan Stonitsch via submission (triangle choke) at 1:35 of round 1
— Kenji Osawa and Chris Manuel fought to a draw
— Logan Clark def. Scott Harper via TKO at 4:37 of round 1

UPDATE: Here's the video of the main event. Notice the opening staredown, where Marshall seemed unable to maintain eye contact with Stann.

Though they'll be fighting in separate matches tonight, Brian Stann and Steve Cantwell previously faced off at WEC 26 (3/24/07), in a match that was stopped a little too early for Cantwell's tastes. Check it out below for a preview of what Stann will be bringing to the Rhino in their title fight.

Bonus #1: The end of Doug Marshall's first WEC title defense against Justin McElfresh, which was stopped at 2:16 of the first round.

Bonus #2: Blas Avena's 29-second choke-out of Joe Benoit at WEC 30. Avena (2-1) takes on Hiromitsu Miura (8-4) tonight in a middleweight matchup.

(Doug Marshall will be hunting for his third title defense.)

WEC 33 goes down tonight at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas; if you have Versus, you can watch the action live starting at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m PT. Unlike the last two WEC events which featured three title fights each, only the light heavyweight belt is on the line at #33, with champ Doug "Rhino" Marshall — 7-2, and coming off a 55-second tapout victory over Ariel Gandulla at WEC 31 — facing Brian Stann, who has ended all five of his professional fights by first-round TKO. The complete fight card is below:

MAIN CARD
Doug Marshall vs. Brian Stann (light heavyweights)
Chael Sonnen vs. Bryan Baker (middleweights)
Ed Ratcliff vs. Marcus Hicks (lightweights)
Steve Cantwell vs. Tim McKenzie (light heavyweights)
Hiromitsu Miura vs. Blas Avena (middleweights)

UNDERCARD
John Alessio vs. Brock Larson (welterweights)
Sergio Gomez vs. Richard Crunkilton Jr. (lightweights)
Ryan Stonitsch vs. Alex Serdyukov (welterweights)
Chris Manuel vs. Kenji Osawa (bantamweights)
Logan Clark vs. Scott Harper (middleweights)

— BloodyElbow has weigh-in results and photos here.

— MMA Analyst posted (and yes, analyzed) WEC 33's betting odds yesterday. Unsurprisingly, Chael Sonnen is the night's biggest favorite, at -355 to Bryan Baker's +285. Somewhat surprisingly, Doug Marshall is a +130 'dog, compared to Brian Stann's -160 line.

— Websites that care a lot more than we do ran down the matchups here and here.

— While describing Doug Marshall, Sherdog dropped a David Draiman reference without any sort of explanatory clause or link. But I suppose if you're reading Sherdog you're already pretty well-versed in nu-metal singers.