MMATORCH
THE TORCH: THE #1 WORLDWIDE BRAND IN COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE - OVER 250 MILLION VIEWS & LISTENS PER YEAR
REREACHING MORE FANS EVERY WEEK THAN ANY OTHER INDEPENDENT SOURCE • VIA THE WEB, MOBILE, PRINT NEWSLETTER, AND ITUNES
HOME | CONTACT USABOUT USFACEBOOKTWITTERLIVECASTPODCASTFREE IPHONE APPFREE AMAZON APPRSS
JUMP TO A LIST OF ARTICLES ABOUT ANY CATEGORY -




GET OUR FREE PHONE APPS FOR IPHONE, IPAD, ANDROID, AND AMAZON: JUST SEARCH "MMATORCH" IN YOUR PHONE'S APP STORE OR MARKETPLACE


Opinion & Analysis : Staff Columnists
MATTHEW: The Ramifications of WEC 47 including Benavidez vs. Torres fallout, Lil Evil's performance, more

Email This Article - Click for Printer-Friendly Page
Or Spread the World Below...
__


Mar 8, 2010 - 1:26:40 PM

wec_47_poster_6_1.jpg
By Sam Matthew, MMATorch Columnist

Saturday night'sWEC 47 showcased some great action complete with guillotine and armbar submissions, head kick knockouts, brutal elbow cuts, and upset victories.

Spotlighting the little guys, the evening's main event Bantamweight Title fight saw a fast Dominick Cruz utilize his speed and reach advantage to stick and move against tough defending champ Brian Bowles. The one-time champion broke his right hand during the bout and the fight was stopped as Bowles could not answer the bell for the third round.

The Georgia native looked timid throughout and was unable to defend his title after taking the belt from former champ Miguel Torres, who was also featured on the co-main event, a battle for contention status that had Torres pegged as a favorite to get back on track for a rematch against Bowles.

This rematch is now a near certainty, though not in the form everyone expected as another 5-round title fight. Fans can expect to see a similar card in the near future with all the same faces as Dominick Cruz will likely defend his belt against Joseph Benavidez, while the Torres/Bowles rematch to determine who gets the next shot at the title may be featured as a co-main event.

The big story of the night was Joseph Benavidez's incredible upset over top-ten ranked Miguel Torres, a fighter considered by many to be the best Bantamweight in the world. Benavidez' absolute domination of his world class opponent put his name on the map and has likely earned the little fireball a shot at newly crowned champ Dominick Cruz. These two have history as Benavidez's only loss has come at the hands of the new champ by unanimous decision in a bout that really saw the 5-4 Team Alpha Male fighter struggle against 5-8 Dominick Cruz's height and reach advantage.

In my most recent previous column, "The Elbow," I wondered why one of the sport's most devastating attacks using the unpadded elbow strike is not taken advantage of more often. Well, ask and you shall receive. (LINK: MATTHEWS: The Elbow: An in-depth look at one of MMA’s most controversial and underutilized weapons).

Benavidez successfully landed an incredibly powerful elbow from top position in the very dangerous guard of Miguel Torres, opening up a horrific cut that was streaming blood right into the eyes of the former champ. Instead of backing away and letting the doctors call off the fight because of the cut (as the severity of the bleeding would have undoubtedly done) Benavidez showed true heart in going for a risky finish by pulling Torres into a tight guillotine submission that was made worse as the challenger threw his right leg high over Torres's free shoulder, ultimately trapping both arms which forced a double-handed tapout.

While normally Torres may have been able to escape this maneuver, Benavidez exemplified the spirit of a warrior by going in for the kill while his opponent was still reeling from the bloody elbow strike. I definitely think Torres's mental game was thrown off by the cut and he was looking for a way out once the guillotine was applied. Congrats to Benavidez on a huge win against one of the best fighters in the world and his Urijah Faber-like guillotine choke rightfully deserved the Submission of the Night $10,000 bonus.

Other big upsets from WEC 47 included a highlight-reel knockout showcased by Anthony Pettis over a tough Danny Castillo. Pettis unleashed a furious kickboxing combination following his straight 1-2 punches with a powerful lead roundhouse high kick early in the first round that earned him a $10,000 Knockout of the Night bonus.

After being dominated from top position by Karen Darebedyan, the former IFL veteran Bart Palaszewski, normally known for his brawling style, pulled off a slick armbar finish from the bottom. Taking advantage of his opponent over-committing to a heavy right hand bomb thrown from inside the guard, Bart quickly threw his legs up and latched the submission onto Karen's left arm, moving his win-streak to three in a row.

The famous Jens Pulver's retirement fight ended just as everyone thought it would with a game Javier Vasquez controlling "Lil Evil" with his superior jiu-jitsu and nearly breaking the aging veterans limb with a textbook armbar submission from the mount position. Pulver made the mistake of throwing leg kicks that allowed Vasquez to easily take him down to his comfort zone on the ground.

The grappling prowess of Vasquez allowed him to briefly attain the Crucifix position trapping Pulvers arms while he rained short punches and a couple nasty elbows that caused a Mount Everest-sized lump to appear on Lil Evil's forehead. Pulver did not disappoint with his usual post-fight speech that was truly an emotional tear-jerker that had the entire audience up in their seats roaring appreciation for one of the sports original lightweight pioneers.

The big disappointment of the night was showing the Devidas Taurosevicias vs. L.C. Davis snoozefest instead of the Fight of the Night slugfest between the ever-popular Leonard Garcia and George Roop. The WEC production crew really dropped the ball on this one as Davis barely edged out a boring majority decision win over Taurosevicias in a bout that resembled a wrestling match more than an actual MMA fight.

Known for his heavy hands, it was a huge surprise that former UFC fighter Leonard Garcia was not on the main card and the three round brawl wasn't even televised. How the hell does the Fight of the Night not get shown to the public?

Another exciting matchup that went unaired was the Ricardo Lamas v. Bendy Casimir bout that ended with Lamas landing a straight knee right up the middle to knockout his opponent as he shot in for a takedown. This knockout finish segues nicely into next week's article, a close examination of "The Knee" which will be a follow up to last week's "The Elbow."

Stay tuned for more action and, as always, feel free to post your comments below.

MATTHEWS: The Elbow: An in-depth look at one of MMA’s most controversial and underutilized weapons

Please Recommend This Article at StumbleUpon...



MORE "Staff Columnists" ARTICLES
WALKER: Five Fighters the UFC Needs to Get Inside the Octagon
WALKER: What is each UFC Title really worth? Looking at the numbers and names behind each UFC belt
WALKER: The MMA Stock Exchange - A Look at the Rising and Falling in the UFC's Bantamweight Division
WALKER: The MMA Stock Exchange - A Look at the Rising and Falling in the UFC's Featherweight Division
WALKER: The Enigma of Brock Lesnar - And Why There Will Never Be Another
WALKER: The MMA Stock Exchange - A Look at the Rising and Falling in the UFC's Lightweight Division


MMATORCH LIVECAST - EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT

ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.


CLICK TO RETURN TO MAIN LISTING



LIKE US ON FACEBOOK!

MMATORCH and USA TODAY
UFC VIDEO PRESENTATION


FEATURED MMATORCH EXCLUSIVES

GREG JACKSON ADDRESSES UFC 143 CRITICS

Greg_Jackson_80_1.jpg
"There's still a large contingent of people, that they just want to see these guys almost die, or the other guy almost die and come back, and sometimes fights are like that. Certainly they are. But sometimes you get technical masterpieces too, and to hate a beautiful, technical fight - you're not really a fight fan...

*CLICK TO READ ARTICLE

AMADI: WHY DIAZ FIGHTS LIKE HE DOES

Staff10Amadi_70_40.jpg
Diaz has a granite chin, possesses perhaps the best recovery in the sport, his pace and conditioning are second to none and he sets records with the volume of his punches almost every time he steps into the cage. Nick Diaz is simply designed to fight the way he fights, and not many other fighters are...

*CLICK TO READ ARTICLE

KOSCHECK EXPLAINS SPLIT FROM AKA

JoshKoscheck_150_5.jpg
"There was a lot of poison going on around there and I'm really disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good thing and I think people's egos got in the way. Well, not people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand, his AKA brand...

*CLICK TO READ ARTICLE

MMATORCH POLL

SEE PREVIOUS POLL RESULTS


10 HOTTEST MMATORCH ARTICLES
UFC Undisputed 3 Review (Xbox 360): THQ improves upon past iterations to provide best MMA experience to date
UFC 143 ROUNDTABLE: Should the UFC book a Carlos Condit vs. Nick Diaz rematch this summer?
ENNIS: Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down for UFC 143 - Carlos Condit, Fools/Crybabies, Bad Judging/Officiating, and more
AMADI: Why Nick Diaz Fights the Way He Does, and Why Carlos Condit Was Right to Avoid It
PENICK: UFC 143's Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit - A Round by Round Breakdown of What Actually Happened
PEREZ: The UFC 143 Highlight Reel - The Top 5 stories out of "Diaz vs. Condit" event in Las Vegas
UFC 143 "DIAZ VS. CONDIT" ROUNDTABLE: MMATorch staff and contributors rate and review Super Bowl weekend event
UFC 143 "DIAZ VS. CONDIT" PREVIEW: Penick's breakdown and fight picks for Super Bowl weekend event
UFC 143 ROUNDTABLE: Nick Diaz or Carlos Condit? Who has the better chance at defeating Georges St-Pierre?
PENICK: Notebook 1/30 - Chicago memories, UFC on Fox 2 BTS thoughts, Jon Jones on Evans-Davis and heavyweight aspirations


ALSO: UFC PPV Reports: Results, analysis, fight ratings of all recent events
LATEST PRO WRESTLING NEWS FROM PWTORCH






HOME | CONTACT USABOUT USFACEBOOKTWITTERLIVECASTPODCASTFREE IPHONE APPFREE AMAZON APPRSS
PART OF THE USA TODAY UFC GROUP | © 2006-2011 TDH Communications Inc. • All rights reserved -- PRIVACY POLICY