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| Miguel Torres post Takeya Mizugaki WEC 40 fight reaction (Video) Posted: 06 Apr 2009 04:22 AM PDT |
| WEC 40 recap and final thoughts for ‘Torres vs Mizugaki’ Posted: 05 Apr 2009 09:30 PM PDT
World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) made its first trip ever to Illinois tonight. And an absolute war broke out between main event participants, bantamweight champion Miguel Torres and Takeya Mizugaki, at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. Mizugaki — a top five 135-pound fighter in the world who took the fight on relatively short notice when Brian Bowles was forced out because of a back injury — did what no man has been able to do in almost exactly four years: Take Miguel Torres the distance. In fact, Torres revealed that he had never gone five full rounds at anytime in his sparkling career. That says quite a bit about the Japanese import who was also making his debut for the promotion this evening. Mizugaki made it quite clear early on that he was going to go toe-to-toe with the champion and take his chances standing rather than mess around on the ground with the slick Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. Torres was more than happy to oblige, sticking his jab and stinging Mizugaki from the outside all night long. Torres was also very effective in close quarters, working the clinch and “dirty boxing” whenever the distance was shortened. He attempted a few leg locks and submission holds here and there, but Mizugaki avoided those attempts like the plague. Mizugaki cut Torres open in the the third round, which required a stoppage and medical attention. There was a moment there where it looked like the ringside physician was considering whether or not to let Torres continue; however, he smartened up fast and fortunately and the action was allowed to continue. And boy was it a slugfest — both fighters put it all on the line to the delight of everyone watching. Mizugaki was throwing with bad intentions, but Torres was just too elusive and could not be pinned down or hurt throughout the entire fight. Torres went on to earn an extremely gritty unanimous decision nod from all three judges. He deserved it. But, Mizugaki, too, deserves a ton of credit for doing what he did this evening. And there is no question that we will see more of him soon on Versus … possibly even in a rematch against Torres in the near future. For now, however, it appears that Torres’ next opponent will be Bowles, pitting the top two 135-pound fighters in the world against each other once and for all. That’s one heck of a match up that, just like tonight, will spark some crazy fireworks. Can’t wait.
In the co main event, former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber’s protege, Joseph Benavidez, kept his perfect record intact with a very impressive showing against a very dangerous veteran, Jeff Curran, to earn a unanimous decision. Curran — a former featherweight — was the favorite heading into the 135-pound tilt and was even calling out Torres prior to the fight against Benavidez. It appears that he got a little ahead of himself because he had no answers for Benavidez’ unorthodox and relentless attack. Benavidez kept Curran off balance all night, pushing the pace and staying in his face for the full 15 minutes. It’s clear that Benavidez has been working diligently alongside Faber to hone his skills — he is very unpredictable and explosive just like the “California Kid.” While he may not be quite ready for a title shot, Benavidez is certainly ready to challenge the other contenders in the 135-pound division. Hopefully, that happens sooner rather than later. In other televised action, Shane Roller — known for his outstanding wrestling credentials — showed off his power, drilling Ben Henderson with a big right in the opening seconds of the 155-pound bout. “Smooth” perhaps should have kept the snazzy bifocals on that he wore into the ring — he clearly didn’t see that one coming. But Henderson had an answer … two of them. He was able to shake the cob webs, as well as defend a very serious-looking guillotine choke attempt while trapped up against the cage, to reverse Roller and get the fight on equal footing once again. It didn’t stay that way for very long. Henderson clipped Roller with a big straight left and followed it up with a looping right, which put Roller on the express train to Queer Street. Roller appeared to go limp and was not defending himself from the barrage of strikes the Henderson was throwing at his face. The referee had no choice but to jump in and save him. Roller protested the stoppage, but he appeared to be in serious danger. Talk about a change of fortunes — he appeared to be well on his way to a first round stoppage of his own before Henderson turned the tables. Great action. Last but not least, featherweight newcomers Raphael Assuncao and Jameel "The Sergeant" Massouh touched ‘em up in a nice battle to kick-off all the televised action. There was a ton of hype behind Assuncao coming into the match — he’s being talked about as a possible 145-pound title challenger. He delivered, earning a unanimous decision win. It wasn’t pretty, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. Massouh demonstrated a fantastic chin and solid submission defense throughout the entire fight. Assuncao mixed up his attack all night long — strikes, submission attempts, ground and pound. You name it and Assuncao tried it, but it just wasn’t enough to but away the very tough Massouh. But a win is a win and it will go a long way toward his chances of one day challenging for a title. He’s a fight or two away, meaning that we hopefully get to see him test his skills against other division players such as Wagnney Fabiano or even Benevidez. Put simply, there are tons of great fights in the featherweight class. WEC 40 was a solid night of fights when all was said and done. The Torres-Mizugaki fight alone was worth the price of admission. All the other action was just gravy. For complete WEC 40: "Torres vs. Mizugaki" results click here. |
| WEC 40 results and LIVE fight coverage TONIGHT (April 5)! Posted: 05 Apr 2009 12:15 PM PDT
WEC 40: "Torres vs. Mizugaki" — the promotion's first trip to the "Windy City" — will take place tonight (April 5) live from the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois. The main card will air live on the Versus network, beginning at 9 p.m. ET. Featured in the main event of the evening will be 135-pound champion and Chicago-area native, Miguel Torres, defending his world title for the third time in the WEC cage against Japanese newcomer, Takeya Mizugaki. As always, MMAmania.com will provide detailed coverage of the main card bouts, beginning with the 9 p.m. ET telecast on Versus. In addition, we will deliver up-to-the-minute quick results of the under card action at around 7:00 p.m. ET. Many of our readers check-in before, during and after the Versus telecast to share their thoughts on the action. Therefore, feel free to leave a comment or 10 before you leave and chat with many of our readers during the show — it always turns out to be a great discussion. Keep in mind that we will also be the spot for the latest news, recaps and post-fight analysis after WEC 40. Without further delay, see below for the latest WEC 40 results. (Note: This will go from the bottom up; therefore, scroll toward the bottom for the latest fight updates!)
WEC 40 QUICK RESULTS: WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres defeats Takeya Mizugaki via unanimous decision WEC 40 MAIN CARD FIGHT COVERAGE: WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres (35-1) vs. Takeya Mizugaki (11-2-2) Fight recap: Round 1: Mizugaki came out stalking the champ and landed some nice shots before Torres answered with hard left hook, right hand combo. Torres started working the jab more, but Mizugaki stayed very aggressive with hard, power shots and continued to win the exchanges. Torres locked the challenger in a Muay Thai clinch and started working the knees, but Mizugaki slammed him hard to the mat to break the clinch. Torres bounced right back up and started landing a few more punches of his own. Mizugaki again came forward right at Torres, pushing him against the cage and initiating a momentary clinch. After separating, Torres took the center of the cage and started working some kicks along with more punching combinations. An extremely tough Mizugaki, however, never seemed to let up. He ended the round with another hard flurry, and clearly stole the first frame from the hometown champion. Looks like we have a fight on our hands here. Round 2: More back pedaling from Torres to start the round. Mizugaki continues to stalk him. Torres fired with a big flurry, but fell to his back because he was backing up. Mizugaki let him right back up and after a a few seconds Torres fired with another flurry. Mizugaki was forced to clinch for a second, but punched out. The two fighters continued to go toe to toe in the center of the cage for a while longer before Torres looked to have Mizugaki wobbly a few times. Torres again initiated a Thai clinch and he pushed the challenger against the cage, landing knees and strikes. After separating, Torres lost his mouth piece and the action was stopped for a second for him to put it back in. After restarting, Torres again grabbed the Japanese fighter in a clinch and closed out the round landing more knees and strikes. Much closer round than the first. Through two, it’s probably one to one. Round 3: Torres worked the leg kicks to start the round, and continued to try and avoid Mizugaki’s power combos. Another clinch from the champ allows him to do a little bit more damage with some knees. After separating, Torres started really stalking the challenger, who looked to be wearing down. A cut on the champ’s forehead led to a small break in the action while the cageside doctors examined the situation. After getting the okay, Torres continued to stalk and wear down the challenger. Like a machine, the champ just kept coming forward, but Mizugaki held his ground and kept inflicting damage of his own on Torres as well. The round came to an end with Mizugaki missing on a wild punch attempt and Torres staring him down as he walked back to his corner. That was another close round for the champ. Round 4: The challenger came out stalking in round four, landing more hard strikes on the champion. Torres shot for a takedown, but ended up pulling guard. However, he couldn’t hold onto the slippery Mizugaki, and the Japanese fighter easily got back to his feet, much to the delight of his corner. Torres went back to the clinch on the feet, landing more knees, punches and elbows from there. Mizugaki attempted some knees of his own, but seemed to be wearing down, while the champ was gaining momentum and energy. Torres continued to pin Mizugaki against the cage and eventually tried a submission attempt which led to them separating. They stood toe to toe from there to close out the round with Mizugaki eating some hard kicks and punches. Torres probably won that round too and at this point should be ahead by a decent margin even though this is a very competitive fight. Round 5: A bloody champion comes out for round five and both guys look to have found some extra energy. After a brief clinch Torres backed the challenger against the cage and land a nasty combination of punches. Somehow the Japanese fighter took the punishment and stayed on his feet. In the clinch, Torres worked more punches, knees and elbows before Mizugaki pushed out. Torres slipped to the mat momentarily after trying a wild kick. More big exchanges followed, and they went right back to the clinch with Mizugaki’s back against the fence. Mizugaki pushes out again and Torres tries to pull guard unsuccessfully. Nice body shot, head shot combinations led to another tie up with Mizugaki eating strikes. With about thirty seconds to go, Mizugaki urged Torres to exchange with him and the champ abliged, bringing a great main event fight to an end. Mizugaki made a name for himself tonight taking Torres the distance, but the champ will retain his title in this one. Final result: WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres defeats Takeya Mizugaki via unanimous decision -end- Jeff Curran (29-10-1) vs. Joseph Benavidez (9-0) Fight recap: Round 1: The fighters exchanged leg kicks and punches early on, with both landing some hard shots and missing on others. After a brief clinch they separate with a Jeff Curran left hook. Benavidez answers a few seconds later with a hard uppercut, but Curran just shrugged it off. Curran landed a big right hand while Benavidez was attempting some kick of jumping move. Benavidez went right to the clinch and recovered from the punch from there. After a lull, Curran swings and misses on huges punch and momentarily slips. Back to the center of the cage, and Benavidez lands a nasty uppercut. Not long after, Benavidez exploded with another damaging flurry and Curran ended up on his back. Benavidez took the top position and worked some ground and pound before standing up and landing kicks to a grounded Curran’s legs to end the round. Close round. The action at the end from Benavidez certainly may have swayed the judges towards giving him that round. But again, real close. Round 2: Curran took the center of the cage to start round two. Benavidez missed a couple times with some kicks before eating a few from Curran and momentarily getting shoved to the mat. After a nice exchange in the center of the cage, Benavidez ended up getting a takedown and landing in Curran’s full guard. Benavidez worked more ground and pound from there, but Curran was able to get back to his feet when Benavidez tried to stand. Back on their feet and there’s an exchange. Benavidez shot for a takedown, but Curran ended up pulling guard looking for a guillotine. Benavidez escaped the choke as well as a few other submission attempts before attempting a guillotine of his own. Curran escaped pretty easily and the round ended similarly to round one with Benavidez on top working the ground and pound. Another close round. Benavidez’s round probably. Round 3: Nice combinations and exchanges from both fighters to start round three of a very close fight. Benavidez got his leg trapped on a body kick attempt and tried a spinning back fist only to eat a high kick from Curran in a nice exchange. After some more circling and kick boxing, Benavidez shot for and got another takedown. He worked the ground and pound from there with Curran against the fence for a few seconds before Curran was able to work back to his feet. Curran took the center of the cage again, but was still eating punches and kicks from Benavidez. Curran then shot in for a takedown of his own, picking Benavidez up and slamming him to the mat. Benavidez right away got back to his feet and got another takedown of his own landing on top of Curran. More ground and pound followed from there. Curran tried to secure a couple late submissions, but was unsuccessful. The final bell came with Benavidez landing more ground and pound. Another close round in a very close fight. I give the edge to Benavidez though. He had an answer for everything Curran did. He scored more takedowns, and he won a lot of the stand up exchanges. Final result: Joseph Benavidez defeats Jeff Curran via unanimous decision -end- Shane Roller (5-1) vs. Ben "Smooth" Henderson (8-1) Fight recap: Round 1: Henderson took the center of the cage and started stalking Roller right away with jabs and kicks. After dodging a few of those strikes, Roller exploded with a combination that put Henderson on his butt. Roller pounced and locked in his signature guillotine choke, but somehow Henderson escaped and got back to his feet. After a clinch Smooth came with a flurry of hard, quick strikes that hurt Roller and put him on his ass this time. Henderson wasted no time trying to finish and it wasn’t long before the referee was forced to call a stop to the onslaught. A very impressive turnaround win for Ben Henderson. Final result: Ben "Smooth" Henderson defeats Shane Roller via technical knockout (strikes) at 1:41 of round one -end- Raphael Assuncao (12-1) vs. Jameel "The Sergeant" Massouh (20-4) Fight recap: Round 1: After a feeling out process Massouh appeared to land a big left hand that floored Assuncao, but after seeing the replay Assuncao just slipped on the mat. He got back to his feet and ended up dropping Massouh with a big right hand of his own. Assuncao worked the ground and pound from the top position for a while, standing and dropping big bombs to a grounded Massouh numerous times. After a scramble from Massouh, they got back to their feet and exchanged some leg kicks. More right hands and leg kicks followed from Assuncao. A hard right hand put Massouh on the mat with about 20 seconds left and the round ended with Assuncao locking in a guillotine choke, but Massouh was saved by the bell. Definitely Assuncao’s round. Round 2: More big punches from Assuncao to start the round. Massouh countered with a hard body kick, but he was having a hard time keeping up with Massouh on the feet. More big combos came from Assuncao, followed by a nice methodical takedown. Once on the mat, he attempted another guillotine submission from the north south choke, but Massouh defended and escaped and worked back to his feet. After a brief clinch they separated and Assuncao landed a hard leg kick that wobbled Massouh. Again Assuncao landed a nasty leg kick, this time backing it up with a hard overhand right. Massouh tried to answer with a high kick, but ended up on his back with Assuncao on top of him. More hard ground and pound from Assuncao brought the round to an end. Another clear cut round for Assuncao. Round 3: Assuncao came out for round three and attempted a high kick, but had it blocked by the much taller Massouh. He continued to work the leg kicks, mixing him more hard right hand, left hand combos. Assuncao eventually took the tired and battered Massouh to the mat, landing him half guard. He quickly took a full mount. After giving up his back momentarily, Massouh reversed to take the top position. From there he worked some nice ground and pound for a few seconds before Assuncao scrambled back to his feet. Immediately Assuncao put his opponent back on the mat, again landing in half guard. He worked some elbows and strikes from there. For a second Massouh gave up his back and it looked like Assuncao might get the finish, but a resilient Massouh fought his way back to his feet and made the final bell. Another round for Assuncao, who will definitely win this decision. Final result: Raphael Assuncao defeats Jameel "The Sergeant" Massouh via unanimous decision -end- |
| Donald Cerrone vs Rich Crunkilton WEC 41 fight in the works Posted: 05 Apr 2009 12:07 PM PDT With WEC Lightweight Champion Jamie Varner on the mend, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (9-1) will keep busy rather than await an immediate rematch, agreeing to take on Rich “Cleat” Crunkilton (16-2) at WEC 41, which is slated for the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif., on June 7, according to a report on MMAWeekly.com. “Cowboy” dropped a hard-fought split decision to Varner back in January at WEC 38. The match ended in odd fashion when the champ was struck with an illegal kick midway through the fifth and final round. Because “C-4″ was unable to continue, the fight went to the scorecards and Cerrone lost by the slimmest of margins. Featured on season two of the reality series “Tapout,” Cerrone is a very popular fighter. He provides some serious problems for his opponents, too. He’s long, athletic and extremely well rounded. Despite having an extensive background in Muay Thai, he finishes most of his foes by submission. “Cleat” was stopped a minute and 30 seconds into the first round by strikes from “Razor” Rob McCullough in September of 2007 at WEC 30 in his shot at gold. He’s only fought once since then, defeating Sergio Gomez by unanimous decision at WEC 33. The American Kickboxing Academy product was slated to face International Fight League standout Bart Palaszewski in a rumored number one contender eliminator bout, but he was forced off the card after suffering an injury in preparation. Cage rust could certainly be an obstacle for Crunkilton in this fight. By the time June 7 rolls around it will have been nearly 16 months since he last saw action … and it will be only his fourth match in more than a three-year span. Still, he’s a veteran fighter with 18 fights and almost a decade worth of professional fight experience to his credit. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Both guys will clearly be looking to get back into title contention with a win here. Cowboy just hopes Crunkilton doesn’t pull out of this fight like he’s done in the past. Earlier this week he spoke about the match up. Here’s a snip:
WEC 41 will feature a rematch between Mike Thomas Brown and Urijah “The California Kid” Faber in a featherweight championship bout with Brown’s title on the line. Cerrone’s teammate from the Greg Jackson camp, Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia, is also expected to be in action in Sacramento on June 7. Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more on the developing fight card. |
| UFC Quick Quote: Is Frank Murr scurred to fight Brock Lesnar? Posted: 05 Apr 2009 08:28 AM PDT
– UFC champions Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir sound off about the knee injury to Frank Mir, which delayed their title unification bout at UFC 98 on May 23. The giants are now set to collide at UFC 100 on July 11. Lesnar questions whether or not Mir, who defeated Lesnar via first round submission in their first encounter, was serious enough to postpone the match. Simultaneously, Mir admits that he probably could have been ready to compete next month. This could be chalked up to being “better safe than sorry” rather than Mir being scurred. But I guess we’ll see on fight night when it all plays out once and for all. |
| ‘Five Rounds’ with WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres (Video) Posted: 05 Apr 2009 08:15 AM PDT |
| Michael Bisping ‘too quick’ and ‘too fast’ for Dan Henderson at UFC 100 Posted: 05 Apr 2009 08:06 AM PDT
Props: Telegraph.co.uk Quoteworthy:
The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 3 light heavyweight winner, Michael Bisping, keeps up the confidence as his showdown with Dan Henderson at UFC 100 on July 11 draws closer. “The Count” has been talking a good game to promote the middlweight showdown, saying previously that Henderson is “nowhere near his level.” In this interview, Bisping once again takes a shot at another top contender, Demian Maia, calling him a “one-trick” pony who he would “stuff like a Christmas Turkey” is the two ever met inside the Octagon. The winner of the match up between Bisping and Henderson, as well as Maia, are the front runners to challenge for the 185-pound title next. The next few months should be very interesting for the suddenly crowded middleweight class. |
| DREAM 8: Shinya Aoki vs Hayato Sakurai (Video) Posted: 05 Apr 2009 07:24 AM PDT Props: Bloody Elbow |
| DREAM 8 results and quick recap Posted: 05 Apr 2009 07:18 AM PDT
Japan’s Fighting & Entertainment Group (FEG) this morning blew up the Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan, for the DREAM 8 event that was stacked with a solid main card and plethora of intriguing match ups in its 2009 Welterweight Grand Prix. The pinnacle of the event was of course the much anticipated showdown between Japanese mainstays and not-so-bitter rivals Shinya Aoki and Hayato Sakurai. And like BJ Penn, “The Tobikan Judan” found out that moving up from lightweight to challenge the boys at welterweight isn’t as easy as it looks. “Mach” would finish the fight quickly, putting an exclamation mark on the bout with some vicious ground and pound and deadly knees that would leave Aoki out cold before he even had chance to contemplate working some of his ground magic. Speaking of grappling chops, jiu-jitsu phenom Andre Galvao progressed to the next stage of the tournament by dominating his fight on the ground and eventually submitting opponent John Alessio by armbar late into the opening stanza. Marius Zaromskis and Seichi Ikemoto had an all-out war that saw its share of crazy moments, such as Zaromskis trying to backflip into Ikemoto’s guard. The bout would go the distance where all three judges saw in favor of Zaromskis for the win. And the last spot in the Welterweight GP semifinals was earned by Jason High, who dominated Yuya Shirai from the get-go, coming out strong and landing a flurry of punches which would knock down Shirai and allow High to take his back and choke him unconscious.
In a carry over from DREAM 7, Daiki Hata garnered a decision victory over Hideo Tokoro for the final spot in the 2009 Featherweight GP. “DJ.taiki” must now make a quick turn around and get set to compete again in just one month’s time at DREAM 9 where he’ll join the likes of Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto (17-1), Masakazu Imanari (16-6-1), Hiroyuki Takaya (10-6-1), Yoshiro Maeda (24-6-2), Abel Cullum (14-2), Joe Warren (1-0) and Bibiano Fernandes (4-2). Heading up the non-grand prix portion of the card was submission specialist Jeff Monson, who made short work of Russian gladiator Sergei Kharitonov, forcing the Russian to tap with a north-south choke early into round one. Making his debut for DREAM was former PRIDE standout Murilo “Ninja” Rua. Unfortunately it was not a successful outing and he was outpointed via decision by last-minute replacement Riki Fukuda. Vitor Ribeiro got back into the thick of it after a 19-month layoff from competition. He faced off against Olympic Greco-Roman silver medalist Katsuhiko Nagata. “Shaolin” would end up winning — although it probably wasn't the most satisfying of victories. The bout was drawn to a close because of a cut sustained to Nagata. Ribeiro looked to be suffering from a little ring rust. He had Nagata mounted and rattled off numerous submission attempts but the four-time CBJJ winner decided to ditch his bread and butter and instead focus on ground and pound, eventually leading to the fight ending laceration. Here are the official results for DREAM 8: Main card: Welterweight Grand Prix: Featherweight Grand Prix: The event will be shown stateside courtesy of HDNet on Friday, April 10, at 10 p.m. ET. In the meantime, be sure to keep it locked in to MMAmania.com for coverage surrounding the second round of the DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix scheduled for May 26. |
| UFC Fight Night 18 replay on Spike TV today at 1 p.m. ET Posted: 05 Apr 2009 12:15 AM PDT
Props: UFC.com |
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