WEC 40 4/5/09 Re-Cap

WEC 40: Torres vs. Mizugaki 4/5/09
Chicago, IL
UIC Pavillion
Versus

Over the last year WEC has put out the best MMA product for my money and the great news is that you can watch WEC for free on Versus. Hopefully WEC’s string of solid and exciting shows continues tonight as Pound for Pound Top 10 fighter Miguel Angel Torres will be in action defending his Bantamweight Title. Todd Harris is the lead announcer and his partner is once again Frank Mir (last show Jens Pulver filled in). Torres is defending against Mizugaki. I haven’t seen him fight but Mir puts him over as a Top 5 fighter in his division.

Featherweight Fight- Raphael Assuncao (12-1) vs. Jameel Massouh (21-4)

Assuncao is a Jiu Jitsu Black Belt who also has strong Muay Thai. Massouh is a well rounded fighter who has 10 submissions in his career. Both fighters are making their WEC debut. Massouh has a large 5’ height and 5’ reach advantage.

R1- Assuncao hit a good shot at the one minute mark that knocked Massouh down. Assuncao took his guard but Massouh got a heel hook and Assuncao got out and took Massouh’s guard again. Assuncao got another take down towards the end of the round and then got a guillotine right at the end of the round. Assuncao is up 10-9 after one round.

R2- Pretty close second round until Assuncao grabbed a guillotine at about the two minute mark. Assuncao finished up the round on top of Massouh and took this round 10-9 as well.

R3- Assuncao hit a good combo at the beginning of the round and then controlled on the ground for the first half of the round until Massouh flipped him over. Assuncao quickly got back into the dominant position. Assuncao wins this fight 30-27 on my score card. Overall, it was a decent fight with a good first round.

Judges score cards say: 30-27 on all three cards

Winner: Raphael Assuncao by Decision (Unanimous)

Next up they show a hype video for the re-match between Mike Brown and Urijah Faber on June 7th for the Featherweight Championship. They come back from the hype video and Mike Brown and Urijah Faber are at ringside and Todd Harris interviews them to hype up the fight.

They show a tribute video for Charles “Mask” Lewis.

Brian Bowles, Donald Cerrone and Jens Pulver (w/child) are shown sitting together.

Lightweight Division- Shane Roller (5-1) vs. Ben Henderson (8-1)

Henderson is on a 7 fight win streak with most of his wins coming by submission. Roller comes out to Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.” Roller is a 3x Division 1 Wrestling All American but has as many knockouts as he does submissions. Roller has a slight 2’ reach advantage.

R1- Roller hit a nice right and then caught Henderson in a guillotine but couldn’t finish him. Henderson got up and got the advantage and hit some good strikes and the ref stepped in and stopped the fight. Great come back by Henderson as he was in a ton of trouble in the opening minute of the fight.

Winner: Ben Henderson by TKO (Strikes) R1 1:41

Lightweight Fight- Bart Palaszweski (30-12) vs. Anthony Njokuani (10-2)

Anthony has a 5.5’ reach advantage and a 3’ height advantage. Bart is the home town guy in this fight as he’s from Chicago.

R1- Bart got a take down about a minute into the fight but couldn’t keep him down. Njokuani stuck Bart with a straight right as he was avoiding a punch and Bart went down. Njokuani landed some brief Ground and Pound but then the ref stood them up. Bart got a take down with about half a minute left in the round. Close round, I’ve got Njokuani 10-9.

R2- Njokuani hits Bart with a great combo at the beginning of the round and just takes him out. Njokuani does a back flip and a break dance spin to celebrate. Right hand, left kick, right hand. Nice flurry by Njokuani.

Winner: Anthony Njokuani by TKO (Strikes) R2 0:27

Bantamweight Fight- Jeff Curran (31-10-1) vs. Joseph Benavidez (9-0)

This is the “Co-Main Event.” Benavidez last fought in WEC in December and had an impressive unanimous decision victory over Danny Martinez. Previous to that he submitted Junya Kudo in the first round of a DREAM fight. Benavidez trains with Urijah Faber and Faber is in his corner for this fight. Jeff Curran is the more experienced fighter and is the home town fighter in this fight. Curran’s last fight was a decision loss to Featherweight kingpin Mike Brown. Curran has a 4’ reach and 2’ height advantage. This is a big step up for Benavidez.

R1- Really good and competitive first round. With a minute and a half left Benavidez catches Curran and knocks him to the mat and jumps on top. Benavidez took round one 10-9.

R2- Both guys are throwing some really quick punches. Curran went for a Superman punch and struck out and Benavidez quickly took Curran’s guard but couldn’t get anything so they stood up at the two minute mark. Curran pulled guard but missed the guillotine, Curran then went for a different sub and then a triangle but could not land any of them and Benavidez took side control. This round could go either way, virtually a toss up. Curran probably gets some points here for trying to finish the fight with a flurry of submissions.

R3- Benavidez got a take down about a minute and a half in by chopping Curran’s leg out from under him with holding onto his other leg. Benavidez stays on top of Curran for the last minute of the fight. Curran went for a triangle but couldn’t get it. Really good fight, the first two rounds were great. I’ve got Benavidez 29-28.

Judges score the fight: 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 in favor of Benavidez

Winner: Joseph Benavidez by Decision (Unanimous)

Bantamweight Title Fight: Miguel Angel Torres © (35-1) vs. Takeya Mizugaki (11-2-2)

Torres looked fantastic in his last defense against Manny Tapia and had a FOTY candidate in his fight before that against Yoshiro Maeda. This will be the first time that I’ve seen Mizugaki fight. Mizugaki is aggressive, likes to stand and has dangerous Ground and Pound. Torres has a large 6.5” reach and a slight 2” height advantage. Torres is the hometown fighter in this fight and gets a heroes welcome to the cage.

R1- Both guys really swinging freely early in this fight. Really strong and even first round that was a virtual toss up. I give it to Mizugaki as he controlled the early part of the round and finished strong. Torres looked to get more comfortable and find his range with kicks more as the round went on.

R2- They mixed it up pretty good for the first minute of the fight with Torres slipping a couple of times but Mizugaki not wanting to follow him to the mat. Torres starts to land some good punches in the middle of this round. Torres looked really good in the second half of this round and wins this round. So I’ve got the fight 19-19 at this point but round one was a virtual toss up.

R3- Mizugaki opened u a small cut on Torres’s forehead and they paused the fight to check the cut. They both really open up after the pause in the fight and then Torres starts to push the pace but Mizugaki answers with a barrage of his own. Good, very close round with neither fighter showing dominance. Torres seemed to land the better shots. I’ve got him up 29-28 in a very close fight so far.

R4- Torres went for a take down but Mizugaki stuffed it and stood back up rather quickly. Torres seems to be grasping control of this fight as he’s stuffing Mizugaki against the cage. Torres misses on a knee bar attempt but when they stand back up he uses his jab effectively. Torres rocked Mizugaki with a right hand and he went back but absorbed the punch nicely. Torres really started to take control of this fight in this round. I’ve got Torres up 39-37 going into the final championship round.

R5- Miguel gets Mizugaki up against the cage and unloads with a good combo but Mizugaki absorbs the punches. Torres hasn’t lost any speed on his jab even in the later stages of this fight. Torres is just too quick and has too much cardio at this point of the fight. Mizugaki is tired but is hanging in there. Both guys slug it out at the end of the fight and this one is going the distance. Really strong fight. I’ve got Torres winning and retaining his title by the score of 49-46.

Judges score cards say: 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47 in favor of Torres.

Winner and still WEC Bantamweight Champion: Miguel Torres by Decision (Unanimous)