Struggling for Legitimacy: WEC Light Heavyweight Division

By Brett “The Conqueror” Beverly 

Of the many titles crowned by the new Zuffa-owned WEC, the light heavyweight championship has seen the least amount of praise from the MMA world.  

At first glance, few looked at this “crowning” as anything more than Dana White creating “his champion” for the new acquisition. 

Doug “Rhino” Marshall was simply a marketable fighter in the right place, at the right time, with the right contract.  

His dominating victory over Lodune Sincaid was nothing more than a blimp on the MMA radar and wasn’t seen as a sign of things to come.  

Marshall has been nothing short of impressive in the Zuffa-owned WEC. All three of his fights in the organization have ended in within the first round and in dramatic fashion.

His last fight showed MMA critics a whole different side of the former heavyweight as he submitted his opponent, Ariel Gandulla, in less a minute.   

But Doug Marshall is no Urijah Faber.  

While Marshall has been impressive, the legitimacy of his challengers has been in question.  

Justin McElfresh, while the XFO champion, has shown no indication that he was ready for the bright lights of the WEC, let alone the world title stag by getting knocked out in both contests in the organization.  

Ariel Gandulla, with only four fights to his credit before facing Marshall, was a questionable pick for a title shot based on inexperience alone.  

While other WEC champions are fighting fighters like Chael Sonnen, John Alessio, Brock Larsen and Joe Pearson; Marshall is defending against fighters who have proven they belong on such a prestigious stage.   

Here’s where Brian Stann comes in. 

The theme for the light heavyweight division in the WEC for 2007 has been the former marine, not the current champion. 

The announce team seems giddy at the opportunity to call Stann a hero, a marine and a tough guy all at the same time. The fact that the organization is preparing this man for WEC gold is more obvious than a Britney Spears wig.  

With more hype than victories, Stann has been impressive in his short career.  

By knocking out all five opponents he’s faced, Stann has incited a virtual hysteria among Zuffa brass. Based just on the amount of times Frank Mir says his name during a broadcast, it’s surprising Stann hasn’t gotten his title shot already.  

Regardless of whether the WEC wants to wait on Stann or not, Marshall will need an opponent for WEC 33 or 34. Stann is the man. 

With both fighters in need of a legitimate fight, it seems as if this is a match up than benefit all involved. While it was originally thought that Stann would dominate the current champion with more crisp and damaging strikes, Marshall has shown a side that few MMA observers thought he had.  

The fight would go a long way to help stabilize a weight class short on fighters and talent, and the timing would allow the WEC to attain and market other fighters in order to keep the weight class edging closer to world legitimacy.