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It was an anti-climactic finish to what was shaping into a good back and forth Title fight between Brian Bowles and Dominick Cruz on Saturday at WEC 47, but Cruz claimed the Title when doctor's determined Bowles unable to continue due to a broken hand after the second round.
While the end of the fight leaves some lingering questions, Cruz is anything but an undeserving Champion. The challenger came out with quick feet and a great gameplan of sticking, moving countering and moving some more. He had Bowles flustered throughout the first two rounds as he was continually able to get in with counter punches and more damage as Bowles swung at him wildly.
Bowles said after the fight that he thought his hand broke after the first punch he threw of the night, and mentally it took him out of the fight as he concentrated on the injury instead of the fight. It seemed apparent that something was off with him, but more was attributed while watching the bout to Cruz's ability to quickly deliver blows and counter whenever Bowles hit him.
The Cruz victory sets up two major rematches in the Bantamweight division of fights that took place on the same card last August. At that event, Bowles claimed the Bantamweight Championship by knocking out Miguel Torres, and Cruz earned his number one contender status by outpointing Joseph Benavidez in a great fight.
With Benavidez submitting Torres earlier in the night on the card in vicious fashion, he earned the rematch with Cruz, and this time they'll have an extra two rounds to settle things. It's an exciting bout with both improving even further from when they met seven months ago, and it will be a highly anticipated Title bout when it's put together. If Bowles can heal up, he's got a ready made rematch with Torres, who wants another crack at him and now needs a couple of fights to get back into Title contention after dropping two straight losses for the first time.
The bantamweight division in the WEC is coming up with great fights and new challengers are sure to emerge in the very near future, but the top four fighters in the division have put on some great battles in the last seven months. For Cruz and Benavidez, there lurks another contender in Scott Jorgensen depending on how their rematch plays out.
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