The Versus broadcast of WEC 47 was overall great, and definitely the best show they've put on in a while. The only bad part was the utterly lackluster battle between Deividas Taurosevicius and LC Davis. Anyway, I'll focus on the final two bouts, which featured four of the top fighters in the world at 135 pounds.
First was the fight between the former bantamweight champ Miguel Torres and a top contender in Joseph Benavidez. Torres, who was just a few months widely considered the #4 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, was coming off a KO defeat to Brian Bowles, while Benavidez, after a decision loss to Dominick Cruz rebounded with a speedy TKO victory over Rani Yahya. This particular matchup was really interesting because of the physical and stylistic discrepancies between the two fighters - Torres is tall and had nearly a foot of a reach advantage, while Benavidez is almost as short as I am but packs a ton of power. Torres was the favorite coming into the match, as people expected him to be able to keep Benavidez at range while on the feet, while using his lanky frame to continue to be dangerous from the ground. However, it turns out that while Torres's jab was effective whenever he employed it, Benavidez was simply too explosive and was able to use feints and great timing to get in close where he has the advantage. From the beginning to the end it was clear that Benavidez was the better fighter. Benavidez was able to take Torres down several times, and although at times it seemed like Torres had a chance at submission, it was just too hard to pull something off on someone as small and strong as Benavidez. Eventually, Benavidez opened up a cut on Torres's forehead, presumably with an elbow strike, and the bleeding helped Benavidez sink in a guillotine choke for the victory. Torres is very skilled in the grappling game and so it was surprising that he left the opening for the guillotine choke, but he was probably panicking from all the blood and also had to worry about Benavidez's dangerous striking. Once the choke was in though, Benavidez was able to lock in to mount and then eventually roll to guard for extra leverage and force the tap. This was a really impressive fight for Benavidez, and would probably have made him the next challenger for the 135 lb belt had Bowles beaten Cruz. However, since Cruz won and Benavidez had recently gotten schooled by him, the choice of the next challenger could be iffy. For Miguel Torres, on the other hand, within seven months he has gone from seemingly invincible (having gone six years without a loss) to now being thrown back into the depths of the bantamweight division.
Wrapping up the night was the 135 lb championship fight between undefeated champion Brian Bowles, making his first title defense after his victory over Torres, and Dominick Cruz, whose only loss came to Urijah Faber at 145 lbs. I actually went with my heart over my brain in choosing Cruz to win the fight, even though Bowles was a 4-to-1 favorite. There were a lot of factors going Bowles's way - knockout power and submission skills, coupled with Cruz's history of going to decisions and the fact that this would be a five-round fight. However, there was just something about Bowles to me that didn't spell "champion." Anyway, the fight ended anticlimactically between the 2nd and 3rd rounds after Bowles effectively threw in the towel due to a broken hand. Even despite this, though, it was clear who was the better fighter even before Bowles landed his first punch. Cruz was able to use his speed and unorthodox movement to pepper Bowles with punches and kicks, while evading Bowles's responses. Interestingly, it seemed like Cruz didn't even make an effort to try to block his opponent's strikes. He instead opted to use distance control and head movement to avoid the punches, and this worked effectively. Cruz has talked about his game plan, and it is nothing complicated - use fundamental elements of boxing like footwork, head movement, and feints as effective MMA tools. For some reason, this level of technical boxing isn't really seen in MMA, especially in the lighter weight classes, where grapplers tend to dominate. After the long reign of Miguel Torres, the bantamweight division is now wide open. As for Cruz's next fight, I believe if he fights like he did against Bowles, he'll be a favorite against anyone they put up against him - but I don't have confidence in him being able to establish himself as a dominant champion. I feel like after his incredible speed, the biggest thing he's got going for him is his mystique, and like Shogun Rua was able to do to Lyoto Machida, I think Cruz's opponents will eventually begin to "figure him out." I'd say that Miguel Torres would have the easiest time defeating Cruz, but after two consecutive losses, we shouldn't expect him to receive a title shot for a while. We can instead expect Cruz's first title defense to be against the likes of Joseph Benavidez, Damacio Page, or Scott Jorgensen.
Looking ahead to the rest of the school year, there is a lot of exciting stuff going on in MMA. This month, there's a run of three UFC events in the span of 1 1/2 weeks (there's a DREAM event during that time as well). First is UFC LIVE: Vera vs. Jones, which will be shown for free on Versus on 3/21. The main event pits together two light heavyweights who are perhaps just a few fights away from top contender status and who are both coming off of losses in fights where they arguably won. Jon Jones is always exciting to watch and we can expect to see a few unorthodox strikes and throws. Brandon Vera is talented but has been underwhelming as of late - so we can hope to see a second wind from him. The other two fights on the main card are bound to be exciting. We've got the explosive striker Junior dos Santos against Gabriel Gonzaga in a heavyweight matchup, the winner of which will likely get Frank Mir, Shane Carwin, or Cain Velasquez next to determine who gets the next next shot at the heavyweight title. Last is another heavyweight bout between powerful strikers Cheick Kongo and Paul Buentello, which we can expect to be a high-octane kickboxing match.
UFC 111 on 3/27 is building up to be what on papers looks to be a loaded card. We shouldn't set our expectations too high though, as in the main event, welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre should demolish Dan Hardy - though if this goes anything like GSP's fights as of late, it will take the full 25 minutes. The other huge fight in the welterweight division is between the consensus #2 and #3 fighters in Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves. The winner of this fight has a good chance at the next title shot if Hardy pulls the upset, but seeing as GSP destroyed both these guys recently and will likely do the same to Hardy, we can all but count this possibility out. We can also set our expectations low for this fight, as although Alves will try to brawl and get a KO victory, Fitch will try to win by boring the crowd and his poor opponent to death. The most exciting matchup of the event is definitely the fight for the interim heavyweight championship between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin. Carwin obviously has huge knockout power and has a good wrestling base to avoid takedowns. Mir is one of the two most dangerous people on the ground in the heavyweight division, has bulked up, and has shown in his last fight that he can actually pack a punch. On one level, it's your classic striker vs. grappler matchup, Frank Mir's striking and conditioning is such an X-factor that it's hard to tell what to expect.
On 3/31, the UFC has its third event in a two-week span with UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Gomi, which will lead in to the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter's 11th season. The main event will be a showdown between one of the consensus top lightweights in Florian, and the semi-struggling Gomi, who will look to regain his dominant status. If Gomi wins convincingly (and if BJ Penn successfully defends his title in UFC 112, as expected), we can expect him to be the next challenger to the lightweight title, as BJ Penn is basically running out of opponents. Gomi will have to pull off an upset though, as Florian comes in a reasonable favorite. Another intriguing matchup is between the 6'11" rising star Stefan Struve and recent TUF winner Roy Nelson. Struve's development has been rapid, while we already know what to expect from Nelson. Though this particular matchup (like any matchup with someone like Roy Nelson) could turn out unexciting, it will be good for gauging Struve's progress and Nelson's role in the UFC.
Then rounding up the rest of the school year is the 2nd season of Bellator, which looks to have an even wider audience following its successful run last year. The season will premiere on 4/8 and will be in a bracket tournament format, with new installments roughly every week. Then on 4/10 is the highly anticipated return of middleweight champion and #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world Anderson Silva at UFC 112. This event marks Silva's first title defense in almost a year, while lightweight champion BJ Penn, also on the card, has during that time already successfully defended his belt twice. On 4/17 is Strikeforce: Nashville, which will have three title fights, one of which will definitely be exciting, and one of which will almost certainly be boring. Strikeforce has been having problems lately and they'll need a successful event if they want their promotion to last much longer. Things will be made even more difficult for them as the UFC will counter-program with their own event, UFC Fight Night 22. No matchups have been made official, but the UFC will definitely try to get some big names in (perhaps the MMA debut of boxer James Toney?), in an effort to incite the collapse of Strikeforce. On 4/24 is the highly-anticipated WEC 48 - WEC's first venture into the PPV market. The card is looking to be stacked with the incredible Jose Aldo defending his featherweight title against WEC poster boy Urijah Faber, along with a rematch of one of the best fights from last year between Ben Henderson and Donald Cerrone. The rest of the main card is lined up with some of the top fighters in the promotion. Finally, there's UFC 113, which will feature a rematch between light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua. Their first fight ended with a highly disputed decision, and an immediate rematch was very much in demand. Also on the card are two top welterweight contenders Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley, as long as a fight between two Ultimate Fighter alumni Kimbo Slice and Matt Mitrione.
No comments:
Post a Comment