Penick's Take
PENICK: Previews and Predictions for WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz
Mar 5, 2010 - 11:59:26 PM PENICK: Previews and Predictions for WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The WEC returns to Versus tomorrow night with WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz, and a great night of action is in store in the blue cage. With a Bantamweight Title bout in the main event and the former Bantamweight Champ Miguel Angel Torres in the co-main event, the 135 lb. division is in the spotlight. There's some great featherweight action on the card as well, including what could end up being the last stand for Jens Pulver should he taste defeat once again. With five fights scheduled for the televised broadcast, let's break down the matchups!

Bart Palaszewski vs. Karen Darabedyan: Palaszewski is a longtime veteran of the sport, having competed in nearly 50 bouts since beginning his career in 2002. He's gotten back on track with consecutive victories after dropping two straight in the WEC. Darabedyan steps into his second WEC fight riding a seven fight win streak. At 9-1 overall, the 23 year old Armenian is looking to take another step up the ladder in the WEC's lightweight division. This is a bout between two very tough fighters who will be very hard to finish. Darabedyan most recently defeated former WEC Lightweight Champion "Razor" Rob McCullough by split decision, and likewise Palaszewski won by split decision in his last outing. This should be a highly competitive bout, but I'll take the Armenian to edge out the decision in this fight.

Deividas Taurosevicius vs. LC Davis: A great featherweight matchup between two well regarded fighters, the 12-3 Taurosevicius and 15-2 Davis come into what is the third WEC bout for both fighters. The two fighters have had remarkably similar careers, with both competing in the IFL at one point, both scheduled for fights against Mark Hominick in Affliction that never came to fruition and coincidentally both picking up split and unanimous decisions in their last two fights. Taurosevicius bested Javier Vasquez, who is facing Jens Pulver on this card, and breakout featherweight Mackens Semerzier in his two WEC bouts, the latter coming at WEC 46 in January. Davis, meanwhile, also defeated Vasquez in his WEC debut before defeating Diego Nunes last November. Both fighters have considerable submission skills but have had trouble finishing opponents in more recent bouts. It's a fantastic clash between two very similar fighters, but it makes it an even tougher fight to call. Davis takes the edge slightly in the striking department, as he's actually finished fights by TKO whereas Taurosevicius has not. Due to that X factor I'll take Davis with a TKO stoppage in the second.

Jens Pulver vs. Javier Vasquez: This is Pulver's last stand. He's lost six of his last seven bouts, most recently in just over 30 seconds to Josh Grispi, and the former WEC Lightweight Champion cannot continue his career, at least getting fights in the WEC, with a fifth straight loss. Vasquez is a tough fight for him, as he himself is coming off back to back losses. Those were both by split decision, however, to the fighters in the bout discussed above. Vasquez had posted a 13-2 record prior to those consecutive bouts, with his last win coming in a minute at the Ultimate Chaos pay-per-view event. Coincidentally enough, Pulver's last victory came in less than a minute, when he defeated Cub Swanson in his WEC debut. The retirement question has been posed to him after each of his last few fights, and while in the moment he's leaned toward calling it quits, he's back once again to give it another go. He's training out of his own gym now and he absolutely needs to win this fight if his career is going to continue like he wants it to. As a fan of "Lil Evil" I want to give him the benefit of the doubt in this one, so I'll take Pulver by decision, but it's with full knowledge that Vasquez is more than capable of winning this fight.

Miguel Angel Torres: A 17 fight win streak fell by the wayside, or more accurately, fell by the hands of Brian Bowles, last August when Miguel Angel Torres lost his WEC Bantamweight Championship by a vicious KO in the first round at WEC 42. In what was only the second loss of his celebrated career, Torres tagged Bowles with a shot and rushed him across the cage to attempt to finish him, but that's when he was dropped with a big shot from Bowles. Bowles then pounced with some massive shots on the ground to finish the job. Joseph Benavidez lost his chance to get a Title shot on that same event last August, losing a unanimous decision to Dominick Cruz. That was the first loss of his career, and he's since rebounded nicely with a first round destruction of Rani Yahya in December. He's now got the biggest opportunity of his career, to get himself to a Title shot by defeating the former Champion. He's going to have a lot of trouble with that, however. He doesn't have the hands that Brian Bowles was able to finish Torres off with, and following only his second career loss Torres has had a fire lit under him and he's ready to return to prominence. This is Torres' fight to lose, and I think he gets himself a submission victory in the second to get back on track to regaining his Title.

Brian Bowles vs. Dominick Cruz: Cruz comes into his second shot at a WEC Championship on a five fight win streak, with four straight decision victories in the organization. His sole career loss came in his WEC debut against Urijah Faber, a fight that was for that Title, by submission in the first round. He defeated Joseph Benavidez to earn this Title shot. Bowles is a perfect 8-0, and has finished all eight of his opponents in impressive fashion. For a 145 lb fighter he's got incredible power, which was showcased in his Title winning knockout of Miguel Torres last summer. This is an extremely tough fight for Cruz, as Bowles is one of the quickest and most powerful bantamweight fighters in the world. He hasn't been able to finish an opponent in his last four fights, and quite frankly I don't see him hanging toe-to-toe with Bowles for five full rounds. This is the Champ's fight to lose, and I don't think he will. A rematch with Miguel Torres will be in the works sooner rather than later, Bowles gets the second round KO to retain his Title and set that bout up.

As always we'll have live coverage of the event as it airs, so make sure to check here tomorrow night as the fights get under way on Versus!