It doesn’t need a cheesy tag line like so many fight cards. If WEC felt pressed to name WEC 47, it might go with the "Little Guy Final Four." Bantamweight champ Brian Bowles defends his title belt against Dominick Cruz while Miguel Torres faces Joe Benavidez. All four fighters came in at weight along with the 18 others during the weigh-ins at the Columbus Convention Center. The event unfolds tomorrow night at Nationwide Arena.
What fight are you most looking forward to? I’m going with Torres and Benavidez. If not, for terrible tactical errors in their previous fights this would be a title match. It’s not. Both fighters made their mistakes and lost, so Bowles (8-0, 5-0 WEC) versus Cruz (14-1, 4-1 WEC) is technically No. 1 against No. 2.
Benavidez and Torres should be all action. As you can see, Benavidez (11-1, 3-1 WEC) needs to overcome a significant height disadvantage. The 5-foot-3 dynamo looks small standing next to Torres (far left) but looks really little next to 6-foot-3 WEC color voice Stephan Bonnar (bottom right). Torres (37-2, 5-1 WEC) looks to get back on the winning track. The loss to Bowles snapped a 17-fight winning streak that dated back to 2004.
With the finishing prowess of three of the four fighters, these should be dynamite fights and set up more great matchups during the summer. With the depth of the card the odds favor the "fight of the night" coming from the undercard. Cagewriter’s vote is on Bart Palaszewski against Karen Darabedyan. Darabedyan (9-1, 1-0 WEC) is as good any prospect in the WEC. The 23-year-old’s speciality is grappling and groundwork yet he really beat up Rob McCullough with his striking during his debut back at WEC 44. Palaszewski (31-13, 2-2 WEC) loves to bang so expect heavy shots and a finish.
WEC 47 official weights (Courtesy MMAJunkie):
Televised Card on Versus (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT)
Brian Bowles (134.5 lbs.) vs. Dominick Cruz (134)
Joseph Benavidez (135) vs. Miguel Torres (134.5)
Jens Pulver (145.5) vs. Javier Vazquez (145)
L.C. Davis (144.5) vs. Deividas Taurosevicius (145)
Karen Darabedyan (156) vs. Bart Palaszewski (155)
Non-Televised Card
Chad George (135.5) vs. Scott Jorgensen (135)
Erik Koch (144) vs. Chad Mendes (145)
Danny Castillo (155.5) vs. Anthony Pettis (154.5)
Leonard Garcia (145) vs. George Roop (145.5)
Courtney Buck (145) vs. Fredson Paixao (144.5)
Bendy Casimir (155.5) vs. Ricardo Lamas (155)