World Extreme Cagefighting hit a home run in the group's live national cable television debut Sunday night. I don't have detailed notes on this one, since I watched at home, and occasionally flipped over to check on the Red Sox-Yankees game, but here are a few day-after observations:

*Zuffa did a solid job differentiating the WEC from the UFC. The show had its own distinct vibe. The Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas actually came off looking better than it has for Ultimate Fight Nights, somehow. It is a small venue, but it came off looking like the place to be last night. WEC also did a solid job of introducing fighters casual fans might not have known going in. There were a couple technical glitches that will presumably be corrected the second time out, but all in all, the event had a first-class feel.

*Frank Mir has the potential to become an excellent color commentator. Mir displayed technical knowledge like few ever put in the position. But more important, he had a way of expressing that technical expertise in a manner that was easy to understand for the average channel-surfing fan who doesn't know the difference between an Americana and a Kimura. Even better, Mir seem to anticipate what was going to transpire right before it happened, giving the finishes an extra rush of excitement. Mir still needs to polish off a few rough edges in his presentation, but all the tools are there for the former UFC heavyweight champ to become a tremendous announcer.

*The 25 x 25 fighting surface really does speed up the pace. All but one of the televised matches were settled in the first round, and the only one to go longer, Alex Karalexis vs. Josh Smith, was 15 minutes of action.

*Karalexis is a prime example of why fighters can benefit from competing in the WEC instead of the UFC. The conventional wisdom is that the WEC is where to go if you fight at 145 pounds and under, and that's for a good reason, since the little guys don't get to compete on many big stages.

But consider someone like Karalexis, who fought 170 in the UFC and now competes at 155. Karalexis is a solid athlete, but he was looking at a future of fighting on UFNs or dark matches on pay-per-views. Instead, fighting in the WEC, Karalexis looked like a warrior going 15 minutes with one eye swollen shut and winning his match. That sort of national television exposure will mean a lot to guys like Karalexis, Brian Stann, and Brock Larson, as the average fan tuning in will remember their performances.

*Urijah Faber again proved he's the real deal. The clips of his win over Chance Farrar should be mandatory viewing for every mainstream sports reporter who thinks that nothing of note is going on when an MMA fight hits the ground. Farrar earned respect for his fearlessness, as he hung with one of the two best under-155s on the planet, but the California Kid was just too much.