Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

The UFC, Affliction and EliteXC seem to get all the attention in the mixed martial arts world, but time after time, the WEC seems to put together high-quality, action-packed cards that deliver.

This time around, Carlos Condit and Hiromitsu Miura highlighted a fantastic night with a main event that was a fight of the year candidate, concluding with Condit retaining his WEC welterweight title with a fourth-round TKO.

Prior to the stoppage, Condit was ahead on the scorecards but Miura showed championship-level heart fighting out of several precarious positions over the duration of the bout. In fact, Miura was on the verge of being finished in the third round when Condit had his back and nearly sunk in a rear naked choke. But Miura came out in the fourth with both guns blazing, landing strikes and putting Condit down with a judo throw.

But as he had each time Miura had him in trouble, Condit reversed position and they fought on. Finally, after another wild exchange, Condit caught Miura with a knee to the face that rocked his opponent, and pounded him with hammerfists until the fight was stopped with just 17 seconds left in the round.

"He's a real tough guy," said Condit, who improved to 23-4 with his third successful title defense. "I'm just glad I came out on top."

Condit and Miura fought a close first round, with Miura flooring the champ with several beautiful judo throws, but Condit scoring with a straight right and landing several elbows from the crucifix position for over a minute.

Most of the second round was a grappling match, as Miura slipped down on a kick try a minute into the round and Condit spent most of the remainder with some ground and pound and working to improve position. Condit finally got Miura's back, but the challenger was able to escape trouble after pulling out of an arm bar attempt.

The third round was an epic five minutes of action with momentum shifts galore. Condit and Miura both had opportunities to finish the fight, the former with bombs from the full mount, the latter with damaging strikes from within his opponent's guard. Condit had Miura's back for nearly the last minute of the round, but couldn't sink in the rear naked choke.

Miura had his chances but Condit was too slippery and too tough in earning the TKO.

In a light-heavyweight championship match, Steve Cantwell won a thrilling standup slugfest, dethroning Brian Stann with a second-round TKO.

Showing a diversified attack with sharp combinations, Cantwell got the better of the standup against a champion who had knocked out all six of his previous opponents.

SLIDE SHOW WEC 35 photos Action images from Condit-Miura, Stann-Cantwell, Varner-Hicks and more.

After an action-packed first round, Cantwell began to take control in the second, backing Stann against the cage and hurting him with punches and knees from clinch. He finished Stann for good with an overhand right that floored the champ. With the win, Cantwell, at just 21 years old, became the youngest champion in WEC.

The end came after a back-and-forth first round, during which the fighters traded momentum  several times, with Cantwell landing more often but Stann connecting on power strikes. Late in the first, Cantwell slipped on a kick attempt and Stann followed with a series of punches as he tried to finish his challenger, but Cantwell remained composed and hung on, sending Stann to the second round for the first time in his career, where the fight would soon end.

Lightweight champion Jamie Varner retained his title with a spectacular performance against Marcus Hicks that ended in a first-round knockout.

After surviving several takedowns, Varner took control of the match with a pair of knees to the face from the clinch. Hicks stayed on his feet but Varner punished him with solid strikes, and Hicks fell against the cage, where Varner worked to finish him. Hicks showed a tremendous chin and world-class guts by holding on and trying to find space to recover, but Varner was relentless with his strikes and eventually dropped his challenger for good with a right cross.

The 23-year-old Varner moved to 15-2 with the win in his first title defense while Hicks dropped his first fight to fall to 8-1.

In a bantamweight fight, Brian Bowles defeated Damacio Page with a guillotine choke in the first round.

The end came when Page shot for a single leg takedown but Bowles sunk in a standing guillotine during the attempt. Page picked Bowles up and thought about slamming him down to the canvas, but the choke was sunk in so deep that he abandoned the slam and tried to break Bowles' grip. Instead, Bowles tightened it and they fell to the ground as Page tapped out.

Full results
Scott Jorgensen def. Kenji Osawa via unanimous decision
Mike Budnik def. Greg McIntyre via triangle choke, Rd. 3
Shane Roller def. Todd Moore via guillotine choke, Rd. 1
Blas Avena def. Dave Terrel via TKO, Rd. 1
Brock Larson def. Carlo Prater via TKO, Rd. 1
Josh Grispi def. Micah Miller via TKO, Rd. 1
Brian Bowles def. Damacio Page via guillotine choke, Rd. 1
Jamie Varner def. Marcus Hicks via KO, Rd. 1
Steve Cantwell def. Brian Stann via TKO, Rd. 2
Carlos Condit def. Hiromitsu Miura via TKO, Rd. 4

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