A featherweight match up in the form of Chad Mendes vs. Cub Swanson is in the works for WEC 50: "Cruz vs. Benavidez," which is booked for "The Pearl" at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday, August 18, according to MMA Weekly.com.
Mendes (7-0) has appeared only twice under the WEC banner but has been impressive in both outings.
After a unanimous decision win over the venerable Erik "New Breed" Koch at WEC 47: "Bowles vs. Cruz" back in March, he returned to the cage just over a month later, submitting Anthony "Cheesesteak" Morrison at WEC 48: "Aldo vs. Faber."
Tackling the 14-3 Swanson will prove to be a big step up in competition but also an opportunity to get into the featherweight title hunt with a convincing win.
Swanson is also coming off a submission win when he tapped out John Franchi via guillotine choke in the third round of their war back at WEC 44: "Brown vs. Aldo" in November 2009.
It was his first appearance since an eight second knockout loss to current 145-pound deity Jose "Junior" Aldo.
The Palms Springs native is 4-2 as a WEC fighter and has a well rounded mix of submission and (T)KO wins to his credit. Simply put, this should be yet another exciting fight for Zuffa's little engine that could.
WEC 50: "Cruz vs. Benavidez" will feature newly minted bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz taking on Joseph Benavidez while Urijah Faber makes his 135-pound debut against the ultra-tough Takeya Mizugaki.
Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more updates to this still-developing fight card.
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