WEC 47 Re-Cap

WEC 47
Nationwide Arena
Columbus, Ohio
March 6, 2009

Frank Mir is deep in training so Stephen Bonnar joins Todd Harris tonight to call the action. Bantamweight Champion Brian Bowles defends his title for the first time tonight and former champion Miguel Torres is also back in action. Stephan is wearing a wicked button down purple shirt that doesn't agree with my HD. Joe Martinez is the ring announcer.

Lightweight Fight- Karen Darabedyan (9-1) vs. Bart Palaszewski (32-13)

Karen is coming off of a good decision win over Rob McCullough in his WEC debut. Bart has a 2" height and 2" reach advantage. Bart is only 26 years old and has 45 fights on his record.

R1- Karen lands some really good punches against the cage and then got a take down and landed some Ground and Pound. Bart went for a submission and Karen landed a couple of really good shots. Bart caught Karen in an arm bar in the last 30 seconds of the round and got the submission victory. Tough loss for Darabedyan as he dominated this fight until he got caught.

Winner: Bart Palaszewski by Submission (Arm Bar) R1 4:40

Sunday March 21st the UFC debuts on Versus with Jon Jones versus Brandon Vera and Gabriel Gonzaga versus Junior dos Santos.

Featherweight Fight- LC Davis (15-2) vs. Deividas Taurosevicius (12-3)

R1-Lots of clinching in the first round with LC landing the better strikes. LC 10-9.

R2- Deividas got a take down one and a half minutes into the round but couldn't take advantage of the take down. Deividas looked like he landed a low blow or two that was not acknowledged by the ref. Really close round. I've got it 19-19 right now.

R3- Davis got a take down with two minutes left in the fight. The ref stood the fighters up with 45 seconds left and the fight is in the balance. LC stuffed a take down and the ended in a clinch. Very close fight. I've got LC Davis taking the fight 29-28 but it could go either way.

Judges score cards say: 29-29, 29-28, 29-28 in favor of Davis

Winner: LC Davis by Decision (Majority)

Todd Harris interviews Donald Cerrone and Urijah Faber. On the first WEC PPV on April 24th Donald Cerrone will challenge Ben Henderson for the Lightweight Title and Urijah Faber will challenge Jose Aldo for the Featherweight Title. Also on the card will be Mike Brown versus Manvel Gamburyan, Anthony Njokuani vs. Shane Roller and Damacio Page vs. Antonio Banuelos.

Some stars at ringside for this show are Randy Couture, Boxer Miguel Cotto, the TapouT crew, Mike Brown and Forrest Griffin.

Featherweight Fight- Jens Pulver (22-12-1) vs. Javier Vasquez (13-4)

R1- Vasquez got a take down but Pulver grabbed a guillotine choke. Vasquez got another take down but Pulver again reversed, this time into Vasquez's guard until he let him up. Vasquez quickly got his third take down of the round with only two minutes gone from the round. Vasquez trapped Pulver in a crucifix position and landed some strikes. Vasquez grabbed an arm bar and Pulver tapped out. Really fun but short fight.

Winner: Javier Vasquez by Submission (Arm Bar) R1 3:41

Post fight Jens Pulver does another "retirement type speech" but doesn't say he's retiring.

Bantamweight Fight- Scott Jorgensen (8-3) vs. Chad George

This fight is from the pre-show. Should be fun as Jorgensen is a high-octane guy. Jorgensen is 4-2 in WEC.

R1- Chad George shoots in and Jorgensen grabs him in a guillotine and George taps out. Jorgensen with a very impressive win.

Winner: Scott Jorgensen by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R1 0:31

Bantamweight Fight- Miguel Angel Torres (36-2) vs. Joseph Benavidez (11-1)

This is a huge fight for both guys. Both guys lost to the one of the fighters in the Main Event tonight (Torres to Bowles and Benavidez to Cruz) but a win tonight can go a long way to erasing those losses. The winner of this fight jumps right to the top of the Bantamweight Title Contenders list. Benavidez trains with Urijah Faber and Faber is in his corner tonight. Torres has a huge 5" height and 11" reach advantage so that could be key but it also means that Benavidez should have the strength advantage if he can close the distance in this fight.

R1- Benavidez caught a Torres kick and briefly floored the former champ. Banavidez got a take down against the cage with two minutes left in the round. Torres went for an arm bar and Benavidez passed his guard to side control. Benavidez really didn't do anything while on top of Torres but took the round 10-9.

R2- Torres started to find the rang with his jab but Benavidez got a take down half way through the round. Benavidez cut Torres with an elbow and then clamped on a guillotine and a bloody Torres tapped out. Big upset. Really good fight from Benavidez and a tough loss for Torres as he has gone from one of the Top P4P ranked fighters to losing two fights in a row.

Winner: Joseph Benavidez by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R2 2:57

Lightweight Fight- Anthony Pettis (7-1) vs. Danny Castillo

This fight is from the pre-show.

R1- Castillo got a take down in the first minute of the fight but couldn't do anything with the take down. Pettis destroyed Pettis with a huge head kick and then nailed him with a barrage of punches before the ref could stop the fight. Big time highlight reel win for Pettis.

Winner: Anthony Pettis by KO (Head Kick) R1

Bantamweight Title Fight- Brian Bowles (c) (8-0) vs. Dominick Cruz (14-1)

Cruz has not lost a fight since losing a title fight to Urijah Faber three years ago. Since dropping to the Bantamweight division in 2008 he is undefeated. Cruz has recently been training up in Big Bear with Brandon Vera. This is Bowles first defense of the Bantamweight Title that he won from Miguel Angel Torres. Bowles is 5-0 in WEC fights. Bowles has Rory Singer in his corner. Bowles has a 2" reach advantage in this fight.

R1- Cruz is using his quickness to dance around Bowles and move in quickly to try for strikes. Bowles landed a really good strike around the two minute mark of the round but Cruz absorbed it and stayed on his feet. Cruz retaliated with a good strike of his own that hurt Bowles. Bowles tried to pull guard with a guillotine but Cruz ended up on top in the dominant position. Cruz took the first round 10-9.

R2- Bowles hit a good right to the face at the one minute mark. Cruz landed a good combo at the two minute mark and swept Bowles leg with a low kick. Bowles nose has been busted open and he seems to be slowing down as the round continues. Cruz got a take down with fifteen seconds left in the round. I've got Cruz up 20-18. He's really frustrating Bowles with his quickness.

During the break in action the doctor came in a examined Bowles and Bowles was not able to continue due to injury. Bowles broke his right hand during the fight. Bowles said he broke his hand on the first punch that he threw and that threw off his game plan.

Winner and new Bantamweight Champion: Dominic Cruz by TKO (Injury) R2 5:00