McCullough set to shine as headliner on WEC card

Even though Rob McCullough’s first World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight title defense has been billed as the main event all along, it appeared it would be overshadowed by the WEC debut of former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver on the same card.

But two weeks ago, Pulver announced he was pulling out of his bout with an injury.

McCullough’s fight against Rich Crunkilton was thrust back into the spotlight as not only the main event, but the main draw on tonight’s WEC card at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Ironically, Pulver is indirectly responsible for getting McCullough into mixed martial arts in the first place.

“Having Jens on the card originally was cool,” McCullough said. “He was the reason I crossed over (to MMA) when I was doing kickboxing. I saw this little guy doing this. I was like, ‘I could kick that guy’s ass.’ “

Six years later, McCullough finds himself defending his belt in the main event of a nationally televised 10-fight card (Versus, Cable 67, 6 p.m.). The bright lights don’t seem to affect him.

“It’s not added pressure for me. I feel like I perform better under pressure,” he said.

Coming from kickboxing, his specialty is clearly his strikes. But McCullough appreciates the fact that MMA is a test of many disciplines of fighting.

“I’m in this game to show that I’m here to fight,” McCullough said. “If I wanted to fight a guy who was going to stand and kickbox with me, I would have stayed in kickboxing. I want to fight a guy who thinks he’s better than me at his game and push me to my limits.

“This is MMA. I want to show everyone that I am well rounded.”

He will get his wish when he takes on Crunkilton, an accomplished grappler with a wrestling background who has lost once professionally. In that loss, a close decision to Hermes Franca at UFC 42 in 2003, he suffered elbow injuries that kept him out of action for nearly two years.

Since returning, Crunkilton has won six straight fights, all by stoppage, and set himself up for this title fight. He hopes to not just leave with the belt but to entertain the fans.

“It’s exciting for me because I’ll get more exposure,” he said. “My style will get shown off, and people will see what I’ve got. Even if it’s not a headline fight, I always feel the need to put on a good show for the crowd, not only to advance my career faster but to advance the sport as a whole.”

Chase Beebe will defend his bantamweight title against Rani Yahya.

Win or lose, Beebe won’t have much time to think about the result.

The Eastern Illinois senior, majoring in economics, will return home Thursday to try to catch up on the two weeks of classes he missed preparing for this fight.

Though he hopes to acquire his degree, he doesn’t want to be forced to put it to use.

“I want to try to make a living out of this. It’s my dream job,” he said. “Waking up in the morning, all you’ve got to do is train. It sure as hell beats working in the office from 8 to 5 every day.

“Obviously, you can’t bank on it because you never know what’s going to happen physically. So many things can go wrong. That’s why I have economics as a backup plan.”

As for now, it’s a pretty good gig for a college student.

“I kind of get to fund my entire school year with this one fight,” Beebe said.

The first fight will begin at 3:30 p.m., with the televised portion at 6.