WEC 48's Garcia vs. Jung, Karalexis vs. Pettis air live on Spike TV prelim special
by John Morgan on Apr 15, 2010 at 1:45 pm ET
With the WEC's first pay-per-view a little more than one week away, the promotion is pulling out all the stops to guarantee a successful showing.
Today, UFC president Dana White announced that the WEC would follow suit with its sister company and air a pair of preliminary bouts on Spike TV.
MMAjunkie.com (http://www.mmajunkie.com) has since learned from sources close to the promotion that the bouts that will be featured include Leonard Garcia (13-5-1 MMA, 3-2-1 WEC) vs. Chan Sung Jung (10-1 MMA, 0-0 WEC) and Alex Karalexis (10-4 MMA, 4-2 WEC) vs. Anthony Pettis (8-1 MMA, 2-1 WEC).
The two bouts will take place during a one-hour special on Spike TV prior to the evening's main-card pay-per-view broadcast.
Garica returns quickly to action following a controversial draw with George Roop at the company's WEC 47 event in March. Garcia appeared well on his way to dropping a decision until Roop had a point deducted in the third frame for an illegal blow.
A longtime fan favorite, Garcia finds himself in desperate need of a win against a tough opponent. "Bad Boy" is just 1-2-1 in his past four contests, and the lone victory came in razor-thin split decision over Jameel Massouh, who's no longer with the WEC.
Meanwhile, Jung fights for the first time in 2010. The Korean made his MMA debut in 2007, and he opened his career with nine-straight wins. Despite a successful track record in kickboxing, Jung has also trained in Hapkido and competed in Sambo tournaments.
Jung's lone career loss came in May 2009 via unanimous decision to Masanori Kanehara at World Victory Road's Sengoku Eighth Battle. Jung bounced back with a second-round submission win over Matt Jaggers in a featherweight grand prix reserve bout at Sengoku Ninth Battle, though the Korean wasn't called on for additional duty that evening.
After dealing with injuries, Karalexis returns to the cage for the first time in a year. The Massachusetts native had been scheduled to fight Kamal Shalorus at this past November's WEC 44 event, but a broken hand forced Karalexis out of the matchup.
A three-time UFC veteran and cast member of the original season of "The Ultimate Fighter," Karalexis has earned WEC wins over Greg McIntyre, Josh Smith, Olaf Alfonso and Thomas Denny. He has also suffered a pair of losses in contests with Bart Palaszewski and Ed Ratcliff.
His opponent, Pettis, looks to build off a March victory over Danny Castillo at WEC 47 that earned him the night's "Knockout of the Night" award. Prior to that fight, Pettis made his WEC debut with a perfect 6-0 record. He made it 7-0 with a submission victory over Mike Campbell at WEC 41 but then dropped a close split-decision defeat to Palaszewski at WEC 45 for his first career loss.
