WEC 47 Gifs and Epitaph

The results of WEC 47 marked another changing of the guard in the headlining match-up between newly crowned bantamweight champion Brian Bowles and challenger Dominick Cruz.

Cruz proved to be too fleet afoot by nimbly dashing in and out of striking range while plastering Bowles with an array of strikes, using precise angles and technical footwork to accumulate offense while avoiding any damage from Bowles.  Bowles was unable to answer the 3rd round bell, registering a TKO-win for Cruz and endowing him with the title of the WEC's world bantameight champion.

Bowles apparently broke his hand early, and explained that this did distract him and cause him to be a little gunshy--but regardless, the fight was owned in full by Cruz in a very mature and intelligent disassembly of the formerly undefeated Bowles.

Miguel Torres returned to bantamweight action for the first time since surrending his championship distinguishment to Bowles versus rising contender Joseph Benavidez. Torres was unable to capitalize standing on the near half-foot height advantage he held over Benavidez, and found himself on his back twice in the first round.  As usual, Torres kept a busy guard, but lost the first stanza 10-9 on my scratch sheet.

Benavidez opened the 2nd round by consistently changing up his stance to southpaw and back, which seemed to throw Torres off a little.  As Torres focused on cracking the stand-up enigma, Benavidez flashed in for a beautiful takedown and immediately followed up with a fierce right elbow that split Torres' forehead wide open.  Wriggling away from the power of Benavidez' ground assault, Torres was ensnared in an air-tight guillotine choke that he could not evade. 

Benavidez notches a huge upset by finishing the former top pound-for-pound fighter Torres, who had previously enjoyed a seventeen-fight roll before suffering consecutive losses.

In the most heart-wrenching sequence of the evening, beloved fighter Jens "Lil' Evil" Pulver allowed himself to be trapped underneath the hostile ground assault of fellow-veteran Javi Vasquez, who was a machine with his position-work.  After smoothly passing guard and isolating Pulver's arm in the crucifix, Vasquez hammered on Pulver before twisting for an armbar that Pulver could not fight off, signaling an ominous fifth-straight loss for Pulver.  The big-hearted warrior will most likely exit the MMA spotlight for good.

We were treated to some absolutely brutal stoppages last night.  Roufusport fighter Anthony Pettis took out his animosity on Danny Castillo for receiving an unintentional low-blow by returning fire with a right-straight followed by a cleaving left high-kick that fully connected, crumpling Castillo to the canvas.  Anthony "Showtime" Pettis lives up to his moniker and continues to excel in the division with a 9-1 record, his only blemish being a closely-contested split decision affair with Bart Palaszewski. 

Keep your eyes on this lightweight fighter, who is sure to make waves in the division with his electric striking and savvy submission game.

The other premiere throttling of the night came in the bantamweight division by way of an absolutely savage Scott Jorgensen guillotine.  In an awe-inspiring display of raw power and ferocity, Jorgensen countered a telegraphed shot by Chad George with a textbook sprawl, and immediately clamped George's extended head into a vice-like guillotine, backed him up against the fence, and then lifted the helplessly struggling George completely off of his feet.  Needless to say, George was persuaded to yield.

Jorgensen advances to 9-3 and has strung together three-straight since his razor-thin split-decision loss to Antonio Banuelos.

Lithuanian Deividas Taurosevicius had his hands full with scrappy L.C. Davis.  Both men stayed busy throughout the fight, but ended up negating each other's offe  nse more than mounting much of their own.  In a bit of a mediocre turnout to what was speculated to be a barnburner, L.C. Davis walks away with the unanimous decision over Taurosevicius.

In other action, hell froze over as an official split-draw was rendered in the Leonard Garcia and George Roop fight.  In a back and forth war that saw action on the feet and on the ground, the fighters exchanged blows and takedowns throughout the fight.  Garcia looked noticeably flat after exerting a lot of effort on a gullotine attempt in the first round, and Roop's energy and resilience proved to be invaluable as he turned up the pace in the later rounds.

The final scores were 29-27 for Roop, 29-27 for Garcia and 28-28 for a split draw.  Wisecracks aside, I feel strongly that the draw verdict is entirely under-utilized and something we need to see much more of. 

Bart Palaszewski had his hands full early with the aggression of Karen Darabedyan, and digested a few blows before being taken down.  Palaszewski hit the ignition on his dynamic guard game, and alternated submission attempts which were fought off well by Darabedyan, who defended with ground-and-pound, forcing Palaszewski to reel the submission back in to cover up.  The veteran remained steadfast and finally latched on an armbar in the waning moments of the first, forcing a tap from Darabedyan with 20 seconds left in the round.

Palaszewski keeps on ticking, extending his record to 34-13 with three-straight in the win column.

Another crusty veteran tasted victory as Jungle Fight old-schooler Fredson Paixao made quick work of Courtney Buck with his Cadillac submission game, nailing a takedown early and never allowing Buck to recover.  Paixao encircled a rear-naked choke after pestering with strikes for the 1st round submission win.

Finally, Ricardo Lamas caught Bendy Casimir with a knee for a KO in the first, and Chad Mendes snared a decision over Erik Koch.

All gifs courtesy of Smoogy and Igor on the UG.