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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Along with Urijah Faber's WEC bantamweight debut, the WEC's next Versus event in August will also feature that division's title on the line in the night's main event.
According to multiple published reports, Dominick Cruz will defend his Bantamweight Championship for the first time in a rematch against the fighter he defeated to earn his title shot in the first place, Joseph Benavidez.
The two earned the "Fight of the Night" for their three round battle at WEC 42 last August. Cruz earned the unanimous decision victory to earn a shot at Brian Bowles, who had defeated Miguel Torres for the Title on that same WEC 42 card.
Cruz made the most of his opportunity, earning a second round TKO due to injury at WEC 47 in March. He also injured himself in that fight, suffering a hairline fracture that had him in a cast for two months. The Title victory was his sixth straight victory after losing to Urijah Faber in his WEC debut, a fight that was for the Featherweight Championship.
Since the loss to Cruz, Benavidez has posted two straight stoppage wins to get back to this rematch with Cruz and his first shot at the Championship. He knocked out Rani Yahya in a minute and a half in December before pulling off his most impressive victory to date in March. Benavidez brutally battered former Champion Miguel Torres, opening a huge cut on his forehead before locking on a guillotine choke in the second round to earn the submission victory.
WEC 50 is expected to take place on August 18 from The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
Penick's Analysis: This is a great Championship bout for the WEC. Their first fight was a lot of fun last August, and I'd expect this to surpass that with the Title on the line and two extra rounds. I have to wonder if Cruz will be 100% coming off the hand injury and only having a couple of months of full on training out of the cast, but he's a very good fighter that's done nothing but win over the last couple of years. Benavidez himself is an extremely exciting young fighter and he'll make for a very tough challenger for Cruz in this rematch.
RELATED STORY: Urijah Faber drops to bantamweight, meets Takeya Mizugaki at WEC 50: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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