Miguel Torres continues to impress, this time it was Manny Tapia who was on the receiving end of Torres’ unorthodox strikes. I’m always amazed when someone in any sport will try a move/maneuver in the heat of battle, that is otherwise only tried in practice. Torres, like an Anderson Silva always seems to throw something at an opponent that’s completely unexpected. Tonight, it was a somersault kick that nearly landed. With yet another dominating win, you can add Torres to the “best pound-for-pound” list along with Anderson Silva, George St. Pierre, BJ Penn and Fedor Emelianenko. I don’t want to over-do-it but I don’t see anyone beating this kid in awhile! Then again, I thought the same thing about Urijah Faber.
Other notable fights:
Brian Bowles may have earned himself a title shot (against Torres) after his victory over Wil Ribeiro. Bowles defeated Ribeiro by guillotine at 1:11 of rd 3. Bowles is becoming one of my favorite fighters in WEC, he always “brings it” and I believe he has what it takes to pull off the upset over Torres.
Team Takedown members Johny Hendricks and Shane Roller had a great night, going 2-0. Hendricks defeated Justin Haskins via TKO (strikes) at 0:52 of rd 2. Roller won his 2nd WEC fight in-a-row as he beat Mike Budnick by guillotine at 1:01 of 1st rd.
Wagnney Fabiano made his WEC debut, a successful one. Fabiano and Akitoshi Tamura engaged in a ground war which ended with Fabiano securing a head-arm choke, putting Tamura to sleep.
In the first televised fight of the night, Joseph Benavidez and Danny Martinez stood and slugged it out for 3 rounds. Benavidez won by unanimous decision but Martinez showed good stand-up and a great chin. Benavidez was just too much for Martinez with his striking combinations.
Mark Munoz is another guy to keep an eye on. Munoz defeated Blas Avena by TKO (strikes) at 2:26 of rd 1. This was the last light heavyweight bout in the WEC, since their dropping that weight class. So with this victory Munoz is sure to make the move to the UFC.
