Original WEC Champ Eddie Wineland hoping to reclaim gold at UFC 161 against Renan Barao

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"When I read the message I ran into the kitchen, kicked the chair, threw my phone, and started screaming. It is the most excited I've ever been to get a fight. It is the fight that everybody wants and the one that every fighter at 135 pounds is trying to get to. Everyone wants that championship fight and right now I'm sitting in that seat.

I think the UFC knows I come to fight and put 100 percent into it. My last couple of performances came against top-ranked guys and I won both pretty decisively. I'm very excited to get the opportunity to fight for the title.

I won the first WEC bantamweight belt and when Zuffa took over I lost it. I think it's just me coming back to claim what’s mine. If you trace the lineage, the UFC belt is technically the first WEC belt. It was my belt originally and I'm coming back to get it."

-Eddie Wineland talks to Duane Finley for UFC.com about getting the call to fight Renan Barao at UFC 161 this June, and trying to regain the belt that traces back to him.

Penick's Analysis: Wineland originated the WEC Bantamweight Championship in 2006 with a big win over Antonio Banuelos, but lost it to Chase Beebe by decision in 2007. Beebe would lose that title to Miguel Torres, who lost it to Brian Bowles, who lost it to current Champ Dominick Cruz. So the belt Barao holds doesn't technically get back to him, but a win for Wineland could set him up for a fight against Cruz and the belt that actually goes back to him. He's come a long way in these past seven years, and with six wins in his last nine fights under the Zuffa banner dating back to the WEC, he's looking to seize this opportunity. It's going to be an interesting matchup, and he's going to make for a tough test against Barao, but he's got his hands full with a man who hasn't lost in a long time.


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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_16278.shtml

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