World Extreme Cagefighting on Thursday officially announced WEC 46: Cerrone vs. Ratcliff, which takes place on December 19 at The Pearl at The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas and is headlined by a matchup between lightweight contenders Donald Cerrone and Ed Ratcliff.

The Versus-televised event also features a lightweight co-main event between former IFL standout Chris Horodecki and Anthony Njokuani and a featured bout between bantamweight contenders Joseph Benavidez and Rani Yahya.

Lightweights Donald Cerrone and Ed Ratcliff have agreed to square off at WEC 45 on December 19 in Las Vegas, according to Sherdog, in what is expected to be the co-main event of the Versus-televised card. The matchup is the first rumored for WEC 45, which is expected to take place at The Joint at The Hard Rock.

WEC featherweight Cole Province has failed a Nevada State Athletic Commission drug test following his WEC 42 victory over Fredson Paixao on August 9 in Las Vegas, testing positive for the anabolic steroid Methasterone.

Province was the lone fighter to test positive on the card, with Miguel Torres, Brian Bowles, Dominick Cruz, Takeya Mizugaki, Leonard Garcia, Shane Roller, Ed Ratcliff and Diego Nunes all passing their screenings for drugs of abuse and performance enhancing drugs.

Former bantamweight champion Miguel Torres was the top paid fighter at Saturday’s WEC 42 event in Las Vegas, receiving $25,000 after losing his title to Brian Bowles via first-round knockout in the evening’s main event.

Bowles, Leonard Garcia, Shane Roller, and Rani Yahya were also among the top earners for the card, while Bowles, Yahya, Dominick Cruz, and Joesph Benavidez received $10,000 “Fight Night” bonuses for their performances at the event.

Brian Bowles became the new WEC bantamweight champion on Sunday in the main event of WEC 42, knocking out 125-pound title-holder and top-ranked pound-for-pound fighter Miguel Torres in the opening round of the main event at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Dominick Cruz, Danny Castillo, Takeya Mizugaki, and Leonard Garcia were also victorious on the WEC 42 main card.

A bantamweight championship bout between title-holder and top pound-for-pound fighter Miguel Torres and challenger Brian Bowles headlines Sunday’s WEC 42 event at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Follow along after the jump for live results from the 11-bout card, which is currently in progress…

WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres and challenger Brian Bowles, who meet in the main event of Sunday’s WEC 42 card in Las Vegas, successfully made weight on Saturday for the headliner.

The rest of the 11-bout card also successfully made weight with the exception of lightweight Marcus Hick

World Extreme Cagefighting has released the complete fight card for WEC 42: Torres vs. Bowles, which takes place on August 9 at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Joining a headlining matchup between bantamweight champ Miguel Torres and challenger Brian Bowles on the Versus-televised main card are Joseph Benavidez vs. Dominick Cruz, Danny Castillo vs. Ricardo Lamas, Jeff Curran vs. Takeya Mizugaki.

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Injuries have forced two lineup changes for WEC 38 as featherweight Rolando Perez has been tapped to replace Fredson Paixao on the evening’s main card against Jose Aldo and lightweight Ben Henderson will meet Anthony Njokuani in place of Ed Ratcliff on the unaired preliminary card.
WEC 38 “Varner vs. Cerrone” takes place this Sunday at [...]

Lightweight Ed “9MM” Ratcliff has been forced out of his scheduled Wednesday clash with Danny Castillo (5-1) at WEC 36 due to an undisclosed injury.
Stepping in on short notice for the matchup is American Top Team’s Rafael Dias (11-4-1), an IFL and Bodog Fight veteran who will be making his WEC debut in the 155-pound [...]

World Extreme Cagefighting on Wednesday announced the complete lineup for WEC 36 “Faber vs. Brown”, which features a main event featherweight championship bout between 145-pound king Urijah Faber and challenger Mike Brown.
WEC 36 takes place on September 10th at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Floria and will air live on Versus.
The [...]

Lightweights Danny Castillo and Ed Ratcliff will square off at WEC 36, World Exteme Cagefighting announced on Wednesday.
Castillo (5-1) racked up five-straight wins to open his career but was defeated by Donald Cerrone via first-round submission in his WEC debut at WEC 34 in June.
Ratcliff (6-1) followed up four-straight victories outside of the octagon with [...]

FIGHTER SALARIES

Brian Stann ($18,000) def. Doug Marshall ($10,000)
Chael Sonnen ($34,000) def. Bryan Baker ($5,000)
Marcus Hicks ($10,000) def. Ed Ratcliff ($7,000)
Steve Cantwell ($8,000) def. Tim McKenzie ($6,000)
Hiromitsu Miura ($8,000) def. Blas Avena ($6,000)
Brock Larson ($24,000) def. John Alessio ($15,000)
Richard Crunkilton ($20,000) def. Sergio Gomez ($4,000)
Alex Serdyukov ($12,000) def. Ryan Stonitsch ($3,000)
Kenji Osawa ($5,000) vs. Chris Manuel [...]

Brian Stann def. Doug Marshall via TKO – Round 1, 1:35
Chael Sonnen def. Bryan Baker via unanimous decision
Marcus Hicks def. Ed Ratcliff via submission – Round 1, 1:42
Steve Cantwell def. Tim McKenzie via submission – Round 1, 2:13
Hiromitsu Miura def. Blas Avena via TKO – Round 1, 2:35
Brock Larson def. [...]