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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief Hello once again ladies and gentlemen. We are just minutes away from WEC 37: Torres vs. Tapia. Stay tuned here to the Torch for my on-going report throughout the event.
-Nice opening video to start off the show. Todd Harris and Frank Mir introduce the show, and they run down tonight's card from the top down. Whatever impressions you've got of Frank Mir as a fighter and to a lesser extent a coach, the man is a good commentator here with WEC
[Commercial Break]
FIGHT ONE: JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ VS. DANNY MARTINEZ (BANTAMWEIGHT)
PREFIGHT: Benavidez says he's got tougher guys that he trains with than Danny. Danny says he's going to show everyone the reason the WEC brought him in: he's the whole package. We've got female referee Kim Winslow overseeing this one.
ROUND ONE: The crowd is dead to start the show here. Martinez pushes Benavidez up against the cage early, but Joseph gets him
off. Benavidez comes out with a hard straight kick and responds with a body kick. Martinez shoots in again, but Benavidez shows a nice sprawl. Danny pushes him to the cage and lands a knee in the clinch before throwing him back out. Benavidez lands a couple of hard shots in an exchange and then lands a straight kick to the face. Martinez recovers fine, though. Benavidez with a hard body shot and then Martinez gets one in of his own. Martinez gets Joseph to the cage and then pulls him down. Joseph pulls himself up and gives his back on the feet, and then gets himself out of that position. Another combo lands for Benavidez. Joseph goes in for a combo, but Martinez holds him and tries to take him down. Benavidez gives him a throw instead and works for a submission on the ground. Martinez holds it off to the round's end though.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Benavidez. Joseph landed some hard shots in that round, and had a really nice throw near the end. Martinez is a bit unsure of himself right now.
ROUND TWO: Benavidez uses some nice straight kicks and body kicks to start the round. He lands on a nice combo a minute in as well. Benavidez barely misses an uppercut. Another straight kick from Joseph. He lands another body kick as well. Quick combo again from Joseph. Martinez is doing nothing in this fight so far. Benavidez is just controlling the fight here. Nice knee lands by Benavidez. Flying knee to the body right after. Martinez gets a knee in from the clinch before breaking away. Another combo with a couple of knees from Benavidez followed up by some more punches. Benavidez then shoots in. Martinez almost gets a choke in, and then goes for Benavidez's back but Joseph pops right back up. Martinez throws another slight shot at the end and lands a body kick.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Benavidez. That was close to a 10-8 round, as Martinez did just about nothing until landing a couple shots and going for a choke in the last minute. He's getting countered left and right and he's getting hit with combos after throwing a single shot.
ROUND THREE: Benavidez with the straight kicks again through the first minute. He slams into Martinez with a couple more body kicks and a flurry of punches. Benavidez is being very selective with his striking and he's going to handily take a decision barring a drastic change in this round. Martinez shoots in and grabs a single leg on the cage. He lets it go. Nice right hand from Benavidez. Hard flying knee, and then a nice high kick. Another body kick. Flurry from Benavidez. This crowd is terrible, by the way. Just very quiet and sitting on their hands right now. Martinez attempts a flying knee, and then Benavidez throws another straight kick. Martinez comes in with a flurry and lands a high knee. HMartinez is finally pushing the action a bit and we get a little back and forth for the first time all fight. Benavidez lands a kick to the body himself and the exchange once more as the round ends.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Benavidez. Martinez almost had Joseph rocked near the end of that round, but it was far too little too late for him here.
WINNER: Benavidez via unanimous decision.
POST FIGHT: Benavidez says his game plan is to stay active and stay tough. He credits Faber for helping him physically and creatively as a fighter.
STAR RATING: (*+) There wasn't a whole lot to that fight. Benavidez was impressive with pushing the action, landing combos and just generally controlling the fight, but Martinez just didn't really do anything until the very last minute of the fight; and it was kind of disappointing. The terrible crowd didn't help it much either.
RAMIFICATIONS: Good debut for Joseph Benavidez, and he's definitely going to be in line for a Bantamweight Title bout somewhere down the line.
[Commercial Break]
-Craig Hummer interviews Jamie Varner ringside. Varner says he goes into every fight the same way, and he's honored to be in the main event for the first card in San Diego. He then talks to Urijah Faber who's right next to him as well. Faber talks up Benavidez and his victory in the last fight. Faber says he's a motivated person, and says if people don't show up in San Diego he'll be disappointed so he expects them to be there.
[Commercial Break]
FIGHT TWO: BRIAN BOWLES VS. WILL RIBEIRO (BANTAMWEIGHT)
PREFIGHT: Mir talks up both fighter's acumen coming into the fight. Bowles said he's not going to let Ribeiro make a name for himself through him. He says he'll dominate Ribeiro and go after the winner of tonight's title fight. Ribeiro says he believes he's got everything he'll need to beat him tonight.
ROUND ONE: Ribeiro stalks Bowles a bit and misses on a roundhouse kick. Bowles pushes forward with a jab and then lands on a nice punch combination that rocks Ribeiro a bit. Will clinches to regain his bearings. They exchange some shots out of the clinch. Bowles lands a right and gets caught with an uppercut. Good exchange so far. Ribeiro lands a left jab leg kick combo. Bowles with a straight right that lands square. Bowles comes in with a leg kick, and then comes back with a nice spinning body kick. Bowles pushes with a nice combo followed by one from Ribeiro. Ribeiro shoots in and gets Bowles to the ground, but Bowles gets a guillotine choke locked in going down. He let it go and tried to get the back of Ribeiro. He had nothing going there, and Bowles ended up in Ribeiro's guard. Bowles lands a couple of short elbows to finish.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Bowles. Good round. Great striking exchanges from both guys, and a nice near submission by Bowles as he got taken down. I hate this crowd, though. You'd think this was a backyard fourth rate promotion the way this crowd is sitting silently.
ROUND TWO: Ribeiro lands a short uppercut as Bowles came in. Riebeiro with a nice leg kick to Bowles. They exchange combos. Bowles caught a leg and tried to take the back of Ribeiro but came up too high and ended up on his back. He landed a nice up kick and then pulled half guard. He got himself back to his feet. Ribeiro landed a shot in a flurry. Bowles picked Ribeiro up and slammed him, landing in half guard. Bowles lands a few body shots and short elbows from the top position. The pace slows a bit and Ribeiro is avoiding much damage. They exchange a couple of shots on the ground before Yves Lavigne stands them up. They immediately exchange with flurries and Bowles gets another takedown shortly thereafter.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Bowles. Not as good as the first round, but still a good one.
ROUND THREE: Ribeiro pushes the action to start off. Frank Mir throws a shot out about De La Hoya running when he thinks a fight's in the bag. Bowles catches a kick and lands a hard right. Ribeiro shot in again on Bowles, and Bowles just snaps into the guillotine and forces Ribeiro to tap. Nice submission.
WINNER: Bowles via guillotine choke at 1:11 of the third round.
POST FIGHT: Bowles said he knew if he stood with Ribeiro long enough he'd land something, and if Ribeiro shot in he'd catch him like he did.
STAR RATING: (**) Real good fight between these two. They had some very good exchanges, and Bowles slapped on a great choke to finish the fight. The crowd was dead throughout, but that's just how they are tonight. Good fight.
RAMIFICATIONS: Bowles should be getting very close to a Bantamweight Title fight, so he'll be watching the main event very closely tonight.
[Commercial Break]
FIGHT THREE: WAGGNEY FABIANO VS. AKITOSHI TAMURA (FEATHERWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: Tamura lands a knee as Fabiano threw a shot. Fabiano got a takedown immediately after. Fabiano is trying to improve his position, but Tamura is showing some great defense. Fabiano tried to get a side choke and got himself into the mount but Tamura immediately put it back to half guard. Tamura's got some really good defense from the bottom here and he's not taking much damage here. This is a great positioning battle that I'm sure many are yelling "boring" at right now. Fabiano is throwing some shots slightly here and there, but Tamura is doing a very good job of not allowing Fabiano to do much damage.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Fabiano. He got the takedown and landed a couple of shots, but it was simply a battle of ground skill in that round and in that respect it was a draw in ways.
ROUND TWO: They're out swinging to start this round. Fabiano then gets a takedown, but Tamura pulls rubber guard and holds Fabiano in his control for a bit. Fabiano pops out of it. We have more of the same from the first round and this battle of position. Fabiano postures up a bit and lands a shot. He lands an elbow from the top as well. Mazzagati stands them up with a just over a minute left. Tamura lands a body kick. Fabiano shoots again and he gets into side control. Fabiano moves to the mount. Fabiano starts throwing some shots and almost gets an armbar as the horn sounds.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Fabiano. Another technically sound, if not entirely exciting round. A lot less action on the ground than in the first until the last twenty seconds.
ROUND THREE: Tamura tries to lockdown a guillotine as Fabiano shot in, and Fabiano used the cage to climb up and get out of it. He takes side control again. Fabiano passes into the mount again and throws a couple of shots. He moves to side control on the other side. Tamura tries to get out but Fabiano gets him back to the same position. Fabiano postured up for an elbow. He steps up again and throws a few hammer fists. He's opened a cut on Tamura. He moves over and gets in a head and arm choke and forces Tamura to tap out.
WINNER: Fabiano via choke at 4:48 of the third round.
STAR RATING: (*+) The first round was really good in showing the technical battle of wills in the ground game, but they weren't doing much other than that the rest of the fight. It was a great technical showing from Fabiano to finally get that choke in though.
RAMIFICATIONS: Both of these guys could submit many of the featherweights in the WEC, but it's highly possible that the Mike Brown's and Urijah Faber's knock them out before they get to the ground.
[Commercial Break]
MAIN EVENT FIGHT FOUR: MIGUEL TORRES VS. MANNY TAPIA (BANTAMWEIGHT TITLE)
PREFIGHT: Torres says there's a lot of guys that talk about him because they haven't been in there against him. Tapia says tonight will be the crowning of a new champion.
ROUND ONE: Torres rocks Tapia right off the bat with a left jab. He lands another one in there as well. Torres calmly walks down on Tapia and throws a shot. Torres with some quick jabs and then comes in with a bunch of shots and a high kick. Tapia tries to throw a combo himself. After a short break Tapia lands a body shot. Torres with another left jab to the face. He lands the jab again. Tapia got inside and landed a shot but he ate a couple of knees as well. Torres with a jab again. Short exchange between the two. Couple of body shots land by Tapia. High kick from Torres and an exchange from both fighters. Torres pulls out a forward roll kick that doesn't land, but looked interesting. Tapia lands a few more body shots. Torres lands another jab. Outside leg kick from Torres. They exchange some flurries as round one ends.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Torres. Good, action packed feeling out round as Tapia tried to figure out Torres' reach and Torres picked his spots nicely. Good recovery from Tapia after getting rocked with the first punch.
ROUND TWO: Torres strikes first with another left jab, and then follows up with a leg kick. He lands another hard jab. Inside leg kick from Torres followed by a shot landing by Tapia. Torres lands a jab again. Another body shot by Tapia leads to Torres with a flurry including a spinning back fist and a hard front kick. Torres doing a great job avoiding shots and countering effectively. Torres drops Tapia with a straight right and tries to finish him on the ground. Tapia recovers but eats a bunch of body shots. He gets back to his feet and after missing a shot, he eats a straight one two combo that drops him again. Torres pounces and pounds him out until the ref steps in. Nice knockout victory for Torres.
WINNER: Torres to retain the Bantamweight Title by tko at 3:04 of the second round.
POST FIGHT: Torres said he knew if he came in calm and picked his spots he'd be able to do this every fight.
STAR RATING: (***) Really good fight for Torres. Tapia tried to overcome the reach of Torres throughout the round and a half it lasted, but Torres is far too good for that, and he absolutely rocked Tapia to finish that fight. Great killer instinct to finish him off after dropping him. Good title defense.
-And that's another WEC event in the books. The last two have dropped off from the events of this summer, but that looks to pick up with WEC 38 in January. Thanks for joining me here tonight, and now it's time to switch over and watch The Ultimate Fighter! We'll have TUF reviews up later as well as reviews and reactions for WEC 37 in the coming days.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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