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- Miguel Torres: ‘No excuses’ for knockout loss to Brian Bowles at WEC 42
- WEC 42 bonuses and awards for ‘Bowles vs Torres’ on Aug. 9
- WEC 42 recap and post-fight discussion for ‘Torres vs Bowles’ on Aug. 9
- WEC 42 results and coverage LIVE tonight (Aug. 9)!
- UFC 102 video preview for ‘Couture vs Nogueira’ on Aug. 29
- WEC 43: ‘Big’ surprise is ‘four of the best fighters of all-time’ in attendance for Ohio event
- WEC 42 predictions and preview for ‘Torres vs Bowles’
- UFC Quick Quote: Kurt Pellegrino bitch-slaps Josh Neer by request
- Dan Henderson: ‘I’m going to beat up’ Anderson Silva (Video)
- Report: Forrest Griffin suffers possible jaw injury at UFC 101 (Updated)
| Miguel Torres: ‘No excuses’ for knockout loss to Brian Bowles at WEC 42 Posted: 10 Aug 2009 04:19 AM PDT
Props: Yahoo!Sports.com Quoteworthy:
Former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres talks about his stunning first round knockout loss to Brian Bowles at WEC 42 last night at “The Joint” from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was a major upset. Torres — widely regarded as among the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport — had not lost since 2003. He was on an amazing 17-fight win streak, which came to a crashing end last night courtesy of several unanswered bombs from the new undefeated champion. Will Torres pick himself off the canvas and exact revenge or does the Athens, Ga., native have his number? Let’s hear it, Maniacs … |
| WEC 42 bonuses and awards for ‘Bowles vs Torres’ on Aug. 9 Posted: 10 Aug 2009 04:06 AM PDT
$10,000 extra to be exact. The promotion dished out its standard post-fight monetary bonuses to four out of the 22 fighters on the card. And it probably won’t come as much of a shock whose wallets are leaving "Sin City" a little heavier. If it isn’t obvious enough already, Brian Bowles secured the “Knockout of the Night” when he became the first man to ever put previous 135-pound kingpin Miguel Torres down with strikes. Danny Castillo’s destruction of Ricardo Lamas certainly would have been worthy of the bonus; however, the new bantamweight champion shocked the world with a brutal finish.
In one of the most action-packed fights of the year in the WEC thus far, bantamweights Dominick Cruz and Joseph Benavidez went back-and-forth for three full rounds in the co-featured fight of the evening. It was an opportunity to be called the division’s next number one contender. And while it was Cruz who gutted out decision win, both fighters’ bank accounts were winners on the night, as the entertaining battle earned the, “Fight of the Night.” And finally, by process of elimination, Rani Yahya, took home “Submission of the Night” honors with his first round north-south choke finish over WEC newcomer John Hosman. It was the only submission finish on the night. Here are the special fight bonuses for WEC 42:
Again, each fighter received $10,000 extra for their performances in addition to their respective base salaries, which we will pass along as soon as possible. For complete WEC 42 results and blow-by-blow coverage of the main card action click here and here. |
| WEC 42 recap and post-fight discussion for ‘Torres vs Bowles’ on Aug. 9 Posted: 09 Aug 2009 08:42 PM PDT
WEC 42: “Torres vs. Bowles” from “The Joint” at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, has come to a jaw-dropping close. In a major upset, Miguel “Angel” Torres — widely considered the top 135-pound fighter on the planet — was dethroned by undefeated 29-year-old Brian Bowles. And he left no margin for controversy, pounding the East Chicago, Ind., native unconscious late in the first round. Coming into the main event title bout, the one question for the former champ was how would he deal with Bowles’ power punching and strength advantage … now we know. It seemed like everything Bowles threw at Miguel had knockout intentions behind it. And every time he landed, it was clear Torres didn’t like it. After tasting the power a few times early on, the champ tried to turn on the aggression himself with a flurry of his own, but he just found himself leaning right into another devastating power punch, which this time sent him directly to the canvas. Bowles saw that the championship belt was within reach and he did not let the opportunity slip through his grasp. He pounded away at the champion until he was out cold, forcing referee Josh Rosenthal to step in between them. It was shocking, to say the least, to see a helpless Torres flat on his back not defending himself, but it really happened. And Brian Bowles really is the new WEC bantamweight champion … and a deserving one at that. Let the Brian Bowles era begin!
There were plenty of other exciting fights on the Versus telecast as well. Here’s how it all went down. A featherweight battle between the division’s former top contender, Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia, and a tough as nails Jameel Massouh found it’s way onto the Versus airwaves after the under card ran past its allotted time slot. No complaints here. Garcia came out early and landed one of his trademark right hands that had just about everybody thinking the fight was in the books. But, Massouh somehow recovered and got back into the fight. In fact, in the second round, he almost finished the fight himself with a deep, deep triangle choke, that Garcia himself said, “had me seeing black.” But the second round bell saved the Greg Jackson trainee and he was able to get his breath back in between rounds. The third frame was extremely close as well, as both guys tried as best they could to impress the judges. But in the end it was “Bad Boy” who earned himself the split decision victory. Jeff “The Big Frog” Curran and Takeya Mizugaki went back-and-forth for three rounds in a memorable bantamweight bout to kick off the scheduled main card on the Versus telecast. Curran came out early looking to take the fight to the mat, but it was Mizugaki who was able to score the takedowns in each of the three rounds. From there, it wasn’t easy, but he was able to fend off numerous submission attempts from a game Curran, grounding and pounding his way to a split decision victory. “The Big Frog” was very active from his back, but cage control and relentless work from the top position won out in the eyes of the judges. The Danny Castillo and Ricardo Lamas lightweight fight started off slow with both guys feeling each other out on their feet. What was expected to be somewhat of a wrestling match, quickly turned into a pretty decent kickboxing bout with both guys landing hard combinations of punches and kicks. Lamas appeared to be picking up the pace as the fight wore on and the momentum seemed to be turning in his favor, but that didn’t last long. With less than a minute left in the second round, Castillo connected on a beautiful overhand right that was perfectly timed and placed right on Lamas’ button. “The Bully” crumbled like a ton of bricks and Castillo pounded away with a few more strikes before referee Herb Dean had to step in and do his thing. What was turning out to be sort of a slow paced fight, ended in a flash for Lamas. Not bad. In the co-main event of the night, bantamweights Joseph Benavidez and Dominick Cruz went at it for three full rounds with both men looking to earn number one contender status in the division. It was an all out war between two of the quickest and most exciting fighters on the WEC roster. It was Cruz who came out on top with a unanimous decision in the end, handing Benavidez the first loss of his career. Throughout the fight he was able to score numerous takedowns, which seemed to be the difference in the fight even though Benavidez was impossible to pin down. It’s hard to call anybody a loser in such an electrifying fight, but Cruz’s size advantage proved difficult for Benavidez to deal with. Still, this was a great fight and another example of why these little guys are so fun to watch. That’s a wrap from the Hard Rock in Las Vegas, Nevada. For complete WEC 42: “Torres vs. Bowles” results and blow-by-blow coverage of the main card click here. Next up for the UFC’s sister promotion will be WEC 43: “Cerrone vs. Henderson” from the Covelli Center in Youngstown, Ohio, on Sept. 2. Headlining the card will be Greg Jackson pupil Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone going toe-to-toe with Ben “Smooth” Henderson for the interim WEC lightweight title. Former lightweight number one contender Rich “Cleat” Crunkilton will also be on the card, returning from injury to face undefeated prospect Dave Jansen in the co-featured bout of the evening. Stay locked to MMAmania.com as we’ll keep you up to date on all your WEC 43 news leading up to the event. |
| WEC 42 results and coverage LIVE tonight (Aug. 9)! Posted: 09 Aug 2009 12:41 PM PDT
Click the banner above or right here for up-to-the-minute results and blow-by-blow coverage of WEC 42: “Torres vs. Bowles.” If you're going to leave comments and discuss the fights with all the other MMAmania.com readers be sure to do it on the main WEC 42 results post and not this one. Enjoy the show, Maniacs! |
| UFC 102 video preview for ‘Couture vs Nogueira’ on Aug. 29 Posted: 09 Aug 2009 12:27 PM PDT |
| WEC 43: ‘Big’ surprise is ‘four of the best fighters of all-time’ in attendance for Ohio event Posted: 09 Aug 2009 12:26 PM PDT
WEC General Manager Reed Harris teased all week that fans lucky enough to attend WEC 43: “Cerrone vs. Henderson” at the Covelli Center in Youngstown, Ohio, on on Sept. 2 were in store for a “big surprise.” Early this morning, he, along with company vice president Peter Dropick, revealed that surprise. Here’s a snip from Dropick via WEC.tv:
The four fighters being referred to are former WEC featherweight kingpin Urijah “The California Kid” Faber, former UFC lightweight champion Jens “Little Evil” Pulver, ex-UFC heavyweight interim title holder and current WEC color commentator Frank Mir, and UFC hall of famer Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell. Each of the four past champions mentioned above will be on hand in Youngstown for the WEC 43 week of festivities. On Tuesday (Sept. 1), Mir, Faber and Pulver will all give fans the opportunity to take part in a special Q&A session with them at the Covelli Center. Then on the night of the event, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell will sign autographs outside the arena during a meet and greet with WEC 43 attendees. WEC 43 is set to be headlined by a lightweight interim title match between Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and Ben “Smooth” Henderson. Also on the card, former WEC lightweight number one contender Rich “Cleat” Crunkilton will return from injury in the co-featured fight of the night to take on undefeated prospect Dave Jansen. For the full WEC 43 fight card click here. |
| WEC 42 predictions and preview for ‘Torres vs Bowles’ Posted: 09 Aug 2009 09:51 AM PDT
World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) will conclude an action-packed weekend of mixed martial arts tonight (Aug. 9) with WEC 42: “Torres vs. Bowles,” airing live on the Versus network from “The Joint” at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Headlining the event will be bantamweight champion Miguel “Angel” Torres defending his title for the fourth time in the WEC cage against current undefeated number one contender Brian Bowles. Fast rising 145-pound stud Joseph Benavidez will also be featured on the main card as he takes on the division’s former top contender, Dominick Cruz, in the co-main event. There’s plenty of other WEC stars who will compete on the card as well, including Jeff Curran, Takeya Mizugaki, Leonard Garcia, Marcus Hicks, Rani Yahya, and Ricardo Lamas to name a few. To help get you better prepared for the action, we’ve given our analysis and predictions for the four main card bouts set to hit the Versus airwaves on Sunday night. Check it out below:
WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel "Angel" Torres (37-1) vs. Brian Bowles (7-0) Miguel Torres clearly deserves to wear the crown as the best 135-pound fighter in the world, but that doesn’t mean he’s invincible. In fact, he’s had to go to war a couple times recently just in order to hang on to his title … the Maeda and Mizugaki fights certainly come to mind. He’s stated himself that all the exposure he’s been getting has given opponents more of a chance to develop productive gameplans against him and he’s had to adjust. He can no longer just step into the cage and win on talent alone. Challengers with strong work ethic who aren’t scared off by his 37-1 record or his 84 percent finishing rate are capable of pulling off the upset, and that certainly includes Brian Bowles. Now, does that mean this is a fifty-fifty fight that can go either way? Absolutely not. This is still Miguel Torres’ fight to win or lose. But, he needs to be careful because Bowles is a threat. He wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t. Still though, Torres basically has the edge both on his feet with his superior boxing skills and on the ground with his superior jiu-jitsu skills. And he has a monumental advantage in the experience department over Bowles - who will be making only his eighth professional start - which is always huge in championship fights. For Bowles, he’ll be relying on his power and wrestling to control the champion. Whether he’ll have success with that strategy or not will depend on how much he can wear the champ down early on, and the smart money says that’s not going to be very easy to do. Angel is always in top physical condition and has obviously had success fending off attacks from bigger, stronger wrestlers in the past. He also has an iron chin that should be able to withstand any of the big blows Bowles connects with. Bowles is a very talented, young prospect, but I have a hard time giving him much of a chance to win this fight by either knockout or submission, and even less of a chance to beat the champ on the scorecards. Look for Torres to improve to 6-0 in the WEC with a hard fought win in this one. Final Prediction: Miguel “Angel” Torres via unanimous decision. Joseph Benavidez (10-0) vs. Dominick Cruz (13-1) Wow, the WEC is certainly not hurting for contenders in the featherweight division. Forget about Jose Aldo, Wagnney Fabiano, Urijah Faber, Leonard Garcia and those guys for a minute and take a hard look at these two young studs. Between the two of them, out of a combined twenty four fights, there’s only one loss (Cruz’s title shot against Faber two years ago), and there’s wins over names like Jeff Curran, Charlie Valencia, Ian McCall, Ivan Lopez, Junya Kudo and Danny Martinez to name a few. In short, this is a dynamite scrap between two of the divisions top contenders. Both are hungry for a title shot, and with a win, either one could be right there knocking on that door. The 25-year-old Benavidez trains daily with the only man to ever beat Cruz, Urijah Faber, which should give him a solid base to build his gameplan around in training. He’s lightning quick and has underrated striking skills to go with a solid wrestling and jiu jitsu attack. It’s doubtful he’ll want to stand too much with Cruz though, who is clearly more polished as a striker. No, he’ll be looking to stick to his bread and butter in this one by trying to work his way into a dominant position for a submission. Meanwhile, the 24-year-old Cruz will do all he can to turn this fight into a kickboxing match, while trying to stay off his back when on the ground. If he can do that, then yeah, he’ll be in good shape to score points with the judges and possibly even put together a fight ending TKO. However, that’s a lot easier said than done with Benavidez. As stated above, he’s very very quick, and he’s extremely hard to control. There might be some stand up exchanges early on, but look for Benavidez to take this fight to the mat the first chance he gets and then to repeat that as much as possible throughout the remainder of the fight. Unless he can take Cruz’s back and maybe score a rear naked choke or something similar, I think this one will go the distance. And in the end it’ll be Benavidez’s cage control and ground work that will earn him the nod. Final Prediction: Joseph Benavidez via unanimous decision. Ricardo Lamas (6-0) vs. Danny Castillo (7-1) Lamas is best known for filling in as a last minute replacement for the often injured Rich Crunkilton against Bart Palaszewski at WEC 39, where he used his strength and wrestling to score a unanimous decision upset over the former IFL standout. Actually, not much else is really known about him. He’s strong, is well conditioned, and has good wrestling. Castillo, on the other hand, will be making his fourth appearance in the WEC, and he’s put together back to back wins over Rafael Dias and Phil Cardella since losing to Cowboy Cerrone last year. He’s a submissions guy, who also doesn’t mind striking a little bit. On paper, Castillo looks like the more technical fighter all around, but we’ve seen Ricardo Lamas win with strength and will before over a difficult opponent. I think there’s more of that in store for WEC fans in this one as well. Look for Lamas to control this fight with a lot of takedowns and ground strikes. His inexperience could play a factor and lead to him getting submitted, but I’m thinking he’s simply going to outwork Castillo in this one. If he can defend the submissions from the top position, he shouldn’t have a problem scoring a unanimous decision win. Final Prediction: Ricardo Lamas via unanimous decision. Jeff "The Big Frog" Curran (29-11-1) vs. Takeya Mizugaki (11-3-2) This is another treat of a fight for the WEC fans with two proven top contenders at 135-pounds going head to head. A big question for me is, will Mizugaki fight with the same heart we saw him have in the Torres fight. We know the WEC wants to market him and expand their fan base overseas, but will he have a let down coming off such an emotional and hard fought battle? If he wants to get his first win in the WEC, fighting an equally, if not more, experienced fighter in Curran, he’ll need to bring his A game, physically and mentally. Because one thing is for sure, making his debut at 135 pounds against the last man to claim number one contender status, Jeff Curran knows what’s at stake in this fight. He wants a shot at Miguel Torres’ (or Brian Bowles’) belt, and he knows he needs a win here in order to get that fight. There’s no doubt he’s going to lay it all on the line in order to do so. If the same Mizugaki comes out in this one, then we’re in for one hell of a fight. Curran, having moved down from featherweight, won’t give up too much in the strength department, but I still believe Mizugaki will be the stronger fighter. However, Curran is by far the more technical mixed martial artist, meaning he’ll know how to counteract the Japanese fighter’s strength. Curran’s only been knocked out twice in over forty professional fights, but Mizugaki’s best chance at winning is still to turn this fight into an all out slugfest. “The Big Frog” won’t let that happen though. He’s too smart to think he has to beat anyone at their own game. I doubt he’ll be able to succeed where Torres (or any other fighter for that matter) couldn’t, in submitting Mizugaki though. But he’ll still try to control this fight with his grappling skills. And who knows, if he can take Mizugaki’s back or another dominant position, maybe he will pull off a submission. Either way, I see Curran’s experience and technical abilities winning out over Mizugaki’s heart and determination. He’s had a tough time in his last three fights against Faber, Mike Brown and Benavidez, but Mizugaki isn’t as athletic or technical as any of those fighters. It’s going to be an entertaining and interesting fight, but I’m leaning towards a Jeff Curran decision win. Final Prediction: Jeff Curran via unanimous decision. That’s a wrap. Remember that MMAmania.com will provide live coverage of the main card beginning with the Versus telecast at 9 p.m. ET as well as up to the minute results of the under card action beginning at around 7 p.m. Check in early and often, it should be an exciting night of fights. |
| UFC Quick Quote: Kurt Pellegrino bitch-slaps Josh Neer by request Posted: 09 Aug 2009 08:58 AM PDT
– UFC lightweight standout Kurt Pellegrino (14-4) talks during the UFC 101 post-fight presser (via Canadian Press) about opening the main card with his three round unanimous decision win over Josh Neer. “Batman” used his jiu-jitsu and top game to stymie Neer’s offense and kept the pressure on throughout the fight with repeated takedowns. “The Dentist” was busy from his guard with a couple of submission attempts but was never able to mount much of an offense during the bout. Neer was visibly frustrated by round three and let the New Jersey grappler know about it with a verbal tirade that only got him slapped for his efforts. It was Pellegrino’s third straight win inside the Octagon and fourth in his last five attempts. Who’s next in line for the ascending 155-pounder? |
| Dan Henderson: ‘I’m going to beat up’ Anderson Silva (Video) Posted: 09 Aug 2009 08:57 AM PDT |
| Report: Forrest Griffin suffers possible jaw injury at UFC 101 (Updated) Posted: 09 Aug 2009 08:33 AM PDT
***Update: Forrest Griffin was not injured during his fight at UFC 101 against Anderson Silva and his quick exit following the knockout loss was from emotional — not physical distress.
A report surfaced earlier today from Telegraph.co.uk that claimed Griffin’s jaw had been dislocated by “The Spider” at some point in the first round of their light heavyweight tilt on August 8. Silva and Griffin spent the first minute or so feeling each other out, but when Forrest turned up the heat, it was Silva who caught fire. The Brazilian started hulking up and toying with the former light heavyweight champ while continually dropping him with accurate and well timed bombs. Yet it was a simple fade-away right hand that eventually felled the The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 1 champ, leaving many fans in attendance and at home scratching their heads. Griffin, who is known for his tremendous heart, seemed dazed and confused and basically flopped to the ground like a pro wrestler trying to “sell” his opponent. Any chance that Griffin had to either criticize his performance or credit Silva’s was lost when he bolted from the cage and ran into the back — despite trying to be dissuaded by a UFC official. It was the second such time Griffin walked out on his post-fight obligations.
After suffering a devastating technical knockout loss to Keith Jardine at UFC 66, Griffin sprinted to the locker room in tears, unable to face the reality of being stopped in what was likely a pivotal fight in his still-young career. While the emotional reaction to that loss was understandable, some fans were not so forgiving the second time around. Whether or not Griffin faces any type of repercussions from the Zuffa brass for ducking out early is unlikely; however, the bigger question coming out of this fight may be where each fighter goes from here. Griffin now has back-to-back losses against Silva’s tenth straight victory inside the cage. While “The Spider” will likely face Dan Henderson later this year in a rematch for Silva’s 185-pound title, Forrest might not be so lucky. Perhaps a rematch with the loser of Rashad Evans vs. Quinton Jackson? Stay tuned. |
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