Champs fill WEC fight card

Paulo Filho, considered by some to be the top middleweight in mixed martial arts, is one of three World Extreme Cagefighting champions on tonight’s card at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Filho is a friend and longtime training partner of Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion Anderson Silva, which is believed to be the main reason he is competing in the WEC instead of the UFC.

Tonight, Filho will meet veteran Chael Sonnen, who has seen many of the best fighters around.

“(Filho) is undefeated, and he’s got some good solid wins on his resume,” said Sonnen, a former wrestler at Oregon. “But he hasn’t been in there with the guys I’ve been in there against. I’m not a steppingstone. I’m the guy that belongs in the number one (contender) spot, and that’s where I’m at.”

Sonnen has lost to “Babalu” Sobral and Forrest Griffin. Jeremy Horn defeated him three times. But Sonnen has a win over “Mayhem” Miller and has not lost since returning to the middleweight class, where he became the Bodog Fight champion.

“I know he’s a good wrestler,” Filho said through an interpreter. “And I know he’s going to have a good fight on his hands.”

While Filho is arguably the best fighter in the WEC, Urijah Faber has become the face of the organization.

He will defend his featherweight title against Jeff Curran.

“He’s got a lot of strengths,” Faber said of his opponent. “But I feel like my ability to be more creative in the ways I have to finish a fight could be a real difference.”

Doug Marshall will defend his light heavyweight belt against Ariel Gandulla as part of the 6 p.m. broadcast on Versus (Cox 67) that also will feature the WEC debut of former UFC lighweight champ Jens Pulver, who takes on Cub Swanson.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or (702) 224-5509.