Cofield pointed out a striking resemblance between a fighter and baseball player: WEC lightweight Anthony Njokuani and Chicago Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano. Both are sluggers, and considering how many knockouts of the night that Njokuani has won, both are capable of knocking it out of the park.
Soriano’s next meaningful battle comes on Opening Day, April 5 in Atlanta while Njokuani’s is on the WEC pay-per-view against Shane Roller.
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Jens Pulver said that he was likely done fighting on Saturday night. His emotional speech didn’t leave a dry eye in Nationwide Arena. The man that helped build the sport, especially at the lighter weights, said thank you to the 8,345 in attendance and the viewers watching at home.
His touching show of appreciation moved both fighters and media to say thank you back to "L’il Evil."
Thomas Gerbasi of UFC.com wrote a moving tribute:
For me and so many others, Jens Pulver will always be the kid knocking out John Lewis, defeating BJ Penn, and going to war with Takanori Gomi. He is a pioneer for the lighter weight classes in mixed martial arts, an inspiration to a generation of fighters 155 pounds and below, and that’s just based on what he did in competition.
Outside the cage or ring, Pulver continues to inspire, and will do so long after his gloves are hung up. Surviving what he has over the years is impressive enough; being open and talking about it lifts it to a new level, and despite all the great things he’s done as a fighter that may be his greatest legacy.
So for us on the other side of the cage, I think I can speak for all my colleagues in saying that it’s been an honor to cover Jens Pulver all these years. There hasn’t been one like him in this sport, and probably never will be again.
Javier Vazquez, Pulver’s opponent on Saturday night, found his win to be bittersweet:
I’m not one of those guys that’s a bully or anything. I mean, I’m glad I won, but I didn’t want to hurt him either. I don’t want to hurt anybody, so it was very bittersweet … For many, many years, I was the biggest Jens Pulver fan. Coming up through the ranks, that was the pinnacle of where I wanted to be.
Bloody Elbow’s Leland Rolling pointed out that Pulver leaving the door cracked open to fighting again ensures that he will leave on his own terms.
Nobody can deny that Jens Pulver is one of the classiest individuals in any sport today. He’s gracious in defeat for all of the fans who supported him, and following his loss on Saturday night — he hinted at the possibility that this may be the last time we see him battle in the sport. Smartly however, he left the door open for a possible return as Jens is a legend of the sport who shouldn’t have to listen to writers, analysts, or fans tell him when he should leave. He’ll leave on his own terms.
L.C. Davis, who trained with Jens Pulver for years at Miletich Fighting Systems, chimed in on how Pulver helped him.
I had the pleasure of training with Jens for a couple years in Bettendorf…I learned so much for him, he’s really paved the way for the light guys. It really hurts me to see him not get the victories and doing things I know he’s capable of doing. But I’m just really thankful to be able to come across him and train with him and be with him.
Fanhouse’s Michael Chiappetta said that the final losses for Pulver hadly matter when looking at his legacy.
Pulver might not have gone quietly or in the blaze of glory that his fans had hoped. Instead, he went out the same way he came in, fighting fiercely. At 35 years old, with a record of 22-13-1 and losses in seven of his last eight fights after losing to Javier Vazquez, Pulver might be forever done in the cage, but the numbers hardly matter. What matters is what he gave us, and what he gave us was generous; he was a pioneer, a building block, an ambassador, a champion.
For me, Pulver was the first person I ever wrote about back when I first started writing about MMA, well before I was with Cagewriter. I was always impressed with his honesty and toughness. I was fortunate to get to interview him briefly at WEC 47, and he was the funny, self-deprecating fighter I had always read about. For that, I must echo the words of Gerbasi.
Thanks, Jens.
The fights at WEC 47 were the centerpiece of the weekend, but you can’t have a fight weekend without pre-fight parties. Both Tapout and Fight! Magazine hosted parties filled with fighters, media, fight industry people and fans.
The Fight! party was at Contact in the arena district of downtown Columbus. Former WEC fighter Jeff Curran was there early, followed by Brian Bowles and his coaches, Rory and Adam Singer. Bowles spent the evening before his fight alcohol-free, relaxing on a couch with his friends. Mike Brown, Forrest Griffin and Anthony Njokuani — who showed off his breakdancing skills — also made it to the party, but no party truly starts until Don Frye shows up.
The MMA legend walked in wearing a cowboy hat, cowboy boots and Wrangler jeans. The man is nothing if not authentic. Fighters clamored around him, all wanting to take a pictures with the man who helped build the sport they fight in today. The ubiquitous Shone Carter even posed for a picture, a staredown in the battle for best hat.
Tapout had its party at Mynt, a club just a few blocks from Contact. (With the walking we did, I’m very happy that I wore flat shoes.) Skyskrape and Punk from the Tapout crew were kind hosts, chilling in the VIP area with Mike Brown, Donald Cerrone and Njokuani.
Back at Contact, more fighters and fans filled the room. Strikeforce’s Brett Rogers happily posed for pictures with everyone in the room, including UFC matchmaker Joe Silva and WEC matchmaker Sean Shelby. Rogers stayed mum on any upcoming fights. Urijah Faber was kind enough to help judge a ring girl competition, helped out by many of the other fighters in the room.
After the parties, I was introduced to the best in Columbus eating: the chicken teriyaki gyro, sold from a street cart. If you make it to Columbus, don’t miss the late-night gyros.
Head to Combat Lifestyle for a full gallery of pictures from the weekend.
The cut that Joseph Benavidez gave Miguel Torres on Saturday night at WEC 47 will go down in history. After Benavidez choked Torres out, the cut men worked on Torres for a few minutes before he walked out of the cage, but still, blood poured out of Torres’ forehead as he walked past press row.
Now we know just how bad that cut was and how it helped Benavidez win. Torres tweeted, "20 stitches in my forehead. Couldn’t see and was breathing in blood, (expletive) happens. I will be back." He also received an indefinite medical suspension and needs to be cleared by a doctor before he can fight again.
He also put out a picture on Twitter of the cut getting stitched up:
Joseph Benavidez staked his claim for the next title shot in the WEC bantamweight division with a submission at 2:57 in the second round over Miguel Torres.
Benavidez controlled the first round with takedown skills and elbows, but his performance in Round 2 was what took out the former champ. After Torres finally started to use his jab — usually one of his most effective weapons — Benavidez used one of his better weapons, a power double leg takedown. Benavidez took Torres down and threw two elbows, the second of which opened up a huge gash on Torres’ forehead.
The two stood up, but Torres was covered in blood. Benavidez locked in a guillotine and Torres tapped near the middle of the second round.
"I’ve been waiting for this fight forever," Benavidez said. "I believed in myself."
Before his August loss to Brian Bowles, Torres had only suffered one loss in his career. Now, with two losses in a row, the former WEC bantamweight champion is in a tough position. He had changed up his entire training camp after his loss to Bowles. He fought the smart fight he wanted to, but was overcome by Benavidez’s aggressiveness.
Just as WEC 47 started, UFC fighter Mike Swick sent out a tweet, saying that he had an extra ticket to give out for a fan to sit between Swick and Thiago Silva.
That honor went to Steven Runkle, a young fan that Swick had met earlier in the evening. Coming to the fights was Runkle’s 10th birthday present, but now the young man had the best birthday ever. He met Anthony Njokuani, Clay Guida, Thiago Silva, and he even got to hold the bantamweight championship belt courtesy of WEC general manager Reed Harris.
"He’s having a blast!" Swick said via text message. "Meeting the fighters. It’s really cool."
After a night of exciting bouts, there is bound to be a boring one. That was the 29-29, 29-28, 29-28 majority decision win for L.C. Davis on WEC 47.
The first round was contested almost solely against the fence. L.C. Davis drove Taurosevicius into the cage early, and they stayed there.
In the second, Davis was taken down but Deividas wasn’t able to accomplish much there after spending so much time and effort just getting Davis to the ground. In the clinch, Taurosevicius threw knee after knee, a few of which appeared to land on the crotch of Davis. Though he complained, the ref never stopped the bout.
Davis finally got a takedown in the last minutes of the third round, but after not doing much there, they were put back on their feet, and then returned to the clinch again as the fight ended.
With so many action-less clinches, even the judges had a hard time scoring the bout. Judge Jeff Blatnik gave the second round a rare 10-10.
In what has to be an early leader for submission of the night, Scott Jorgensen submitted Chad George in just 31 seconds.
George took a shot at Jorgensen without setting it up, and Jorgensen easily caught George in a guillotine.
"If you take a shot at me from a distance, I’ll stop it, " Scott Jorgensen, a Division I NCAA wrestler with Boise St., said after the fight. "I want to see another fight. Whether it’s next month or the month after it."
Before the fight, Jorgensen told Cagewriter that he hoped to have a quick finish to his fight so that he could appear on the WEC pay-per-view on April 24. After a 31-second bout, injuries and fatigue won’t keep Jorgensen off the card.
In his WEC debut, Chad Mendes showed off strong wrestling credentials in a 30-27 unanimous decision over Erik Koch at WEC 47.
In the first round, Mendes had a hard time getting started but finally landed a takedown near the end of the round. When Koch tried to open up with punches in the second round, Mendes again went for a big takedown. The fight remained on the ground for the rest of the round with both Mendes and Koch landing punches from the guard.
Koch cut Mendes over the eye with a kick to the temple to start the third, with Mendes bleeding all over Koch as Mendes took Koch down. The gash was bad enough that the ref stopped the bout to check his cut, but they continued on.
Mendes landed another takedown, but as they started to get back to their feet, Mendes inadvertently poked Koch in the eye. After Koch recovered, Mendes again took the fight to the ground.
Mendes was a Division I NCAA finalist wrestler, and definitely used those skills to secure the win. He apologized to the crowd for not making it a more exciting bout.
In the third out of four fights so far, a WEC 47 fight ended in the first round. Anthony Pettis won by KO in 2:17 in the first round over Danny Castillo in a lightweight bout.
Castillo tried to use his wrestling early and take Pettis down, but the two quickly returned to their feet, where Castillo quickly found himself in trouble.
Pettis knocked Castillo down with a straight right and then a towering left kick to the head. He followed up with a few punches that knocked Castillo clean out.
"This fight was important, I had a loss and some injuries," Pettis said after the bout. "Did you like that knockout? I got more like that."
In a fight that few people expected to go past the first round, Leonard Garcia and George Roop grinded out a three-round classic that ended in a 29-27, 27-29, 28-28 draw.
The two both were clearly going for a first round knockout, swinging for the fences with every punch. Leonard Garcia spent one minute of the round in a guillotine, but couldn’t finish it.
The secound round started on the feet, with both fighters throwing
big punches and kicks. Again, Roop took Garcia down and Garcia tried
for the guillotine. After escaping the guillotine, Roop tried to get
back to his feet, and while standing, landed a knee on Garcia’s
head. Due to that foul, Garcia was given a moment to recover, which helped him as he finished the round with strong standup.
In the third round, Roop tried the exact same strategy, throwing leg kicks and eating punches before taking Garcia down. This time, Garcia recovered and got back to his feet quickly.
After Roop kicked Garcia in the crotch, the fight was paused and the referee deducted one point from Roop. When the fight restarted, Roop ate some strikes from Garcia and then took him down again, but Garcia got back to his feet with just 47 seconds left in the fight. In the last ten seconds, both fighters threw a flurry of punches and kicks, causing the crowd at Nationwide Arena to stand and cheer.
Both fighters called for extra rounds, or at the very least, a rematch.
A match that turned into a kickboxing fight was ended with a knee in the first round by Ricardo Lamas, knocking out Bendy Casimir at 3:43.
The two started the bout trading kicks. Though they both tried to get the fight to the ground — Casimir with a low double and Lamas with a single leg — high kicks dominated the bout. When Casimir went in for another shot, Lamas threw a perfect left knee, knocking out Casimir’s mouthpiece, and putting Casimir out cold on the canvas.
"I knew I had to finish this fight," said Lamas, who has two decision wins and a TKO loss in the WEC. He then credited Casimir for being a tough opponent.
Paixao notches quick submission
Fredson Paixao showed off his jiu-jitsu prowess with a rear naked choke in 2:39 in the first over Courtney Buck at WEC 47.
Buck started out strong, stalking Paixao around the cage and knocking Paixao to the ground with a kick. Unfortunately for Buck, the ground is where Paixao is most comfortable. Paixao quickly took control of Buck, taking his back. Buck held out for as long as he could, but Paixao locked in a tough choke halfway through the first and Buck tapped.
Welcome to Cagewriter’s live blog for WEC 47: Cruz vs. Bowles. The undercard kicks off soon with the televised card going on Versus at 10 p.m. ET. Stick with us, and feel free to use this post as an open thread to make your fight predictions.
At Thursday’s open workouts, veteran fighter Jens Pulver happily showed off his new Tapout shirt, a riff on the boxers in the video game classic "Mike Tyson Punch-Out." Seeing that before the creation of Wii, MTPO was the last video game I played regularly, I was impressed.
More impressive was how Pulver came to have this shirt as his own. He saw the shirt’s sketches when it was intended to be a signature shirt for Tapout crew member Skyskrape. Pulver said he wanted the shirt, and Skrape waffled. Then Pulver rattled off the cheat code for "Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out," and Skrape handed the shirt over.
You can buy Pulver’s shirt here for $28.99.
Miguel Torres and Joseph Benavidez are looking to make a statement with their WEC 47 bout this weekend. Torres needs to let the world know that his one loss to Brian Bowles didn’t sideline his career, while Benavidez is trying to re-establish himself as a title contender.
"I can’t underestimate him," Torres said. "He’s the most dangerous opponent I’ve ever faced. This fight is more important than any title fight. It’s going to put a statement on the rest of my career."
Benavidez thinks that a win over Torres will set up a bantamweight title shot, and feels more prepared for the bout because he isn’t coming off a loss like Torres is. Torres’ last bout was the loss to Bowles. Benavidez lost to Dominick Cruz on that same night, but then quickly TKOed Rani Yahya in December.
"I think this fight is a fight away from the title with me and Miguel. This is a title fight for me. This is the biggest fight I’ve had," Benavidez said. "I lost, and that happened for a reason. I was happy that I got a fight in-between. No one else did, and I think that helped."
Torres completely revamped his training camp after the loss to Bowles. He left the gym he owns in northwest Indiana, and worked with Robert Drysdale in Las Vegas and Kurt Pellegrino in New Jersey to get ready for Benavidez’s style.
"I tried to seek out a lot of guys with his style," Torres said. "I know he’s going to come in with big looping punches and wild kicks to try to throw me off my game. I’ve got to stay controlled, stay focused and fight my game plan, use my reach, and in the clinch, use my height."
Benavidez had the good fortune to train with two other men also fighting on this card. Danny Castillo and Chad Mendes — who Benavidez called a grizzly bear — are teammates of Benavidez. Castillo will face Anthony Pettis while Mendes, a Division I NCAA finalist, will make his WEC debut against Erik Koch.
"We all share the same goal to come down and win," Benavidez said. "We want to get three wins. It’s just great to share this experience with them. We’re all peaking, so when we’re going against each other, we’re going against the best teammates we can ask for."
Both men need wins. It’s not that either are in a win or go home situation, but to get their careers back on the trajectories that were headed straight up less than a year ago, they have to come away with a victory.
Cagewriter and Yahoo! Sports will have complete coverage of WEC 47 live from Columbus.
When Dominick Cruz steps into the cage on Saturday night to face Brian Bowles for the WEC bantamweight title, it won’t be the same guy who faced Urijah Faber in a title shot three years ago.
"I’ve got three years experience in the WEC [since the last title fight,]" Cruz said. "I learned a lot about media, about questions that are going to be asked, and judgments that are going to be made, how to brush them off, how to take everything in stride, how to not let your head get big."
Since that loss to Faber — a first-round guillotine submission — Cruz has been on a five-win streak. Those wins have given him the confidence to happily take the title shot. Bowles is known for finishing fights, but that doesn’t bother Cruz.
"I think I can finish anybody in my division. I think I have the power. I think I have the skill. I think I have everything it takes. It just hasn’t happened yet. I’m not going to force it. I’m going to do what I’ve done in my past five fights, and that’s to go out there and get the ‘W’ and put a great fight on for the fans."
Like his opponent, Cruz is hardly a well-known fighter, especially when you consider that the two are in a title fight. Being overlooked by fans and media doesn’t bother Cruz.
"They been from day one. That’s OK. Keep overlooking. People aren’t going to overlook me after this fight. I’m going to do big things. I’m not going anywhere. You can’t get rid of me. I’m like a little tick on a dog. Just keep sucking and sucking and do whatever I’ve got to do to win. I just keep making people bleed and I’m going to get well-known."
It turns out that Shane Victorino isn’t the only member of the Philadelphia Phillies to get involved with MMA. Jayson Werth told Yahoo! Sports’ own Dave Brown that he owns Capital City Cage Wars, a promotion out of central Illinois.
JW: I actually have a very small, modest company back home and we put on pro and amateur MMA fights. Capital City Cage Wars. It’s a couple years old. It’s a minor success. It’s more for entertainment purposes.
DB: Wait … your own your personal MMA minor league?
JW: We’ve got a large venue — we bring upwards of 2,000 people. We have two or three fighters already in the UFC (including Matt Hughes, a nine-time World Welterweight Champion). It’s actually really cool, because I don’t have to go anywhere to see MMA, UFC-style fights. I can watch them, basically, in my back yard.
With Werth’s schedule, it might be difficult to get to many bouts, so why not go ahead and buy a promotion? He made it to UFC 101, which started not long after a game ended for the Phillies, but having your own MMA promotion makes things much more convenient.
The Cagewriter chat with WEC fighters Scott Jorgensen and L.C. Davis starts at noon E.T. You ask questions, we’ll give answers. We’ll also give away a pair of tickets at some point in the chat. Stick with Cagewriter. We’ll take you places.
UPDATE: Thanks to everyone for stopping by, and congratulations to Erik Strong, our ticket winner.
On Thursday at noon E.T., join us for a chat with Scott Jorgensen and L.C. Davis, who are both fighting this weekend at WEC 47 in Columbus. If chatting with them was not enough reason to stop by, you can also win tickets to see them fight at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus. (You must be able to make it to the arena on Saturday night to win the tickets.)
So come by, chat and win tickets.
Cagewriter will host a chat live from Columbus to get you ready for WEC 47. Join L.C. Davis, Scott Jorgensen and me at noon E.T. on Thursday to get your burning WEC questions answered. If you don’t, Jorgensen may jump and kick you in the head.*
*Nah, he won’t. He’s a nice guy who wouldn’t kick random strangers in the head. However, you don’t want to miss the chat.