Lightweight stays on top

Rich Crunkilton entered his World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight title bout knowing he would have to stand and trade blows early with champion Rob McCullough to get into his game plan.

It was a plan he never would have a chance to execute.

"I was expecting to have to trade a little bit to set some things up," Crunkilton said. "Obviously, there was never enough time to get into Plan B."

McCullough is one of the best strikers in the organization, while Crunkilton is known as a grappler and one of the toughest fighters around.

He never got to showcase his skills on the ground, however, as McCullough knocked him down on three occasions early and eventually stopped the challenger with a huge right hand at 1:29 of the opening round in the main event of WEC 30 at the Hard Rock Hotel on Wednesday night.

"I had a feeling he would try to stand and trade to set up his takedowns," McCullough said. "But I think he underestimated (my power)."

Though he caught the champion with a couple of shots, Crunkilton clearly was overmatched in the standup by the former kickboxing champion.

"The guy is tough. He's a stud," McCullough said. "I didn't expect it to be easy."

It was even more difficult early for the other champion on the card.

Submission expert Rani Yahya threw just about every move in the book at bantamweight champion Chase Beebe in the first round, but it appeared to take every bit of his stamina to do it. Beebe survived the round and then dominated the next four rounds to earn a unanimous-decision victory and retain his belt.

By the middle of the second round, Beebe had taken control. The closest Yahya came to ending the fight was on a deep knee bar that had Beebe in pain.

"That thing would have had to pop (to get me to tap out)," Beebe said. "But, I'll be honest with you, it was ready to pop. It was very close."

Light heavyweight Brian Stann continued his impressive run through the WEC with another first-round knockout.

The U.S. Marine, a Silver Star recipient, has won all five of his professional fights, including three in the WEC, by way of first round stoppage.

In this fight, he dominated Jeremiah Billington from the opening bell. Billington appeared to land one solid punch, but Stann walked through it.

"I've been blown up twice," Stann said of his time on the battlefield. "It's going to take a little more than that to rattle my cage."

Las Vegan Blas Avena earned his second straight first-round stoppage with a 29 second submission win over Joe Benoit.

The Hard Rock security guard took just more than 10 seconds to get his opponent in a standing guillotine choke. After working the choke to the ground, it didn't take long for Benoit to tap out.

Of the eight three-round, nontitle fights, only former welterweight title challenger John Alessio's victory over Marcelo Brito went to the judges' scorecards.