WEC 42 Results: Brian Bowles Wins Bantamweight Title With First-Round KO of Miguel Torres
Brian Bowles (pictured) became the new WEC bantamweight champion on Sunday in the main event of WEC 42, knocking out 135-pound title-holder and top-ranked pound-for-pound fighter Miguel Torres in the opening round of the main event at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Bowles rocked Torres early in round and also scored a takedown in the frame, but appeared to be in trouble as Torres landed a series of punches that forced him to backpedal. But Torres’ aggressiveness left an opening for Bowles, who connected with a right hook that dropped Torres to the canvas, where Bowles was able to quickly finish off the champ with a barrage of punches.
Bowles remains undefeated, improving his record to 8-0 following the surprising first-round knockout, while Torres falls to 37-2 after having his 17-fight win streak that dated back to early-2004 snapped.
In the WEC 42 co-main event, bantamweight contenders Dominick Cruz and Joseph Benavidez engaged in an entertaining bout that saw Cruz pick up a unanimous decision victory to improve his record to 14-1 and extend his win streak to 5-straight.
Danny Castillo came from behind to score a second-round knockout of Ricardo Lamas on the WEC 42 main card, while Takeya Mizugaki picked up a questionable decision victory over Jeff Curran and Leonard Garcia topped Jameel Massouh at the Versus-televised event.
Rani Yahya earned the only stoppage on the six-bout WEC 42 preliminary card, submitting late-replacement John Hosman with a north-south choke in the opening-round of their matchup. In other prelim action, Shane Roller topped Marcus Hicks in a back-and-forth bout, LC Davis edged fellow Affliction-import Javier Vazquez, and Ed Ratcliff, Diego Nunes, and Cole Provice also picked up decision victories.
The complete results for WEC 42 were:
- Brian Bowles def. Miguel Torres (c) via KO (punches) — Round 1, 3:57
WEC Bantamweight Championship - Dominick Cruz def. Joseph Benavidez via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Danny Castillo def. Ricardo Lamas via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 4:15
- Takeya Mizugaki def. Jeff Curran via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Leonard Garcia def. Jameel Massouh via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Cole Province def. Fredson Paixao via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Shane Roller def. Marcus Hicks via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Ed Ratcliff def. Phil Cardella via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Rani Yahya def. John Hosman via submission (north-south choke) — Round 1, 2:08
- Diego Nunes def. Rafael Dias via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- L.C. Davis def. Javier Vazquez via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
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Well, that changes the top of my p4p
lol no doubt
LOL. Silva retook the top of mine by tooling Griffin, but had Torres at number two… GSP just moved up a slot.
haha yeah it changes my p4p list too. ive been saying cruz was the real deal for over a year now. I never counted him out, especially cuz hes from the 520! Yeeeaaahhh! hahaha Cant wait to see Cruz vs. Bowles or Mizugaki vs. Bowles what a great night of fights, amazing. Torres was out cold, that was shocking. Wow…
What a weekend of fights
wow. what a $hitty weekend. first the forrest fiasco, then bj won, now torres lost. WTF!
when torres first got rocked i was like oh $hit, this might be another matt serra. and sure enough it happened. dammn ref shouldve stepped in quicker. torres was gone once he hit his back. after he was out bowles landed 3 unnecessary punches. but the blame isnt on him. you go until the ref stops. step your game up mr referee.
I really can’t recall a worse weekend in MMA for me. Yes, it was horrific when Brock Lesnar beat Frank Mir, but to have 2 fighters I respect and support lose to fighters I could care less about makes this a sh!t-awful weekend…
Now you know how dangerous Bowles really is! I love how everyone counted him out, but those of us who know him and train with him knew he would come out on top. He has a ton of heart, works hard, and he’s earned this win!
I agree about the unnecessary punches. Sometimes people known for their durability end up taking unnecessary damage when they do get KOed because the ref is expecting them to get back up from watching them do it so many times before. I think that was a factor in the late stoppage tonight.
I had a feeling Bowles was going to be the one to do it. Great fight. I thought the Garcia fight and the Curran fight should of went the other way, I don’t know what the hell the judges were watching.
Wow!! Sidenote, I thought Torres was the 135 pound champ?
Fixed. Thanks.
Awesome weekend. Two great fight cards. Cant wait for ufc 102, ima party allll day son! I get to watch Couture fight Noguiera on my birthday. Im psyched.
he is!
135LB not 125LB.
Fixed. Thanks.
WOW…..who saw that coming! I knew Bowles would put up a good fight but i did not expect him to knockout out Miguel in the first round. Anyone notice how Frank Mir suddenly got so quiet after Miguel was out and when he spoke after he sounded very depressed, maybe him and miguel are boys.
hahaha yeahhh i noticed that too. The commentators are always less talkative when the WEC poster boys lose (Faber and now Torres)
Mir and Torres are friends, I believe. I also think they are the only two fighters that wear Ecko shirts out to the ring. Given that, a little quiet is expected (Didn’t see the KO but some folks made it sound brutal – may have been worried).
Torres was out, then took a few more, then laid there for a few minutes after the fight was over.
Yeah, I just saw it. Ref was definitely late stepping in. Way late.
yea i think him and frank are cool, and i know that franks really thinks highly of miguel as a fighter…im sure he was just concerned and looking for him to be ok…can’t say that i blame him…i thought he was GONOKO’D…but he was up pretty quick and looked fu<king ppissed. i honestly wouldnt be surprised to see an immediate rematch, kinda like faber brown…great card, congratulations to bowles…the end
“up pretty quick” he was down for 30-60 seconds at least.
lol…”up pretty quick” is a relative term i suppose…i guess what i meant was i figured that he was gonna be out for a while the way he went cold…i was surprised to see him looking relatively clear eyed when they read the decision
Torres’ composed deportment during the reading of the decision is IMO a testament to the man’s heart and abilities as a top MMA fighter…
Great weekend of fights. Loved Silva and Penn won, shocked Torres went down. He had Bowles rocked and ate a good right hook. Next WEC card, I am going to count how many times they say Faber’s name. Gotta be once every 90 seconds!
They do say his name a lot, but considering either two or three fighters (I know two, can’t remember if there was a third) who fought tonight train with Faber, and then another had previously fought Faber, you’re going to here is name a lot. Not to mention he’s probably the most recognizable guy in the WEC (besides maybe Jens Pulver).
Oh I know, but Mir LOVES to throw his name out there. No offense Justin, got bust your boys, it’s hear not here!
::sigh:: Yeah, you’re right. It’s also past 2am here, and this being the second late fight night in a row, with little sleep Friday night, helped a friend move Sat. and busy day today… I think I have an excuse for mixing up homophones. ;)
touche :)
Benavides trains with him, and he threw props to Danny Castillo.
Forget predicting anything at this point, power vs. skill actually worked this time. Good fight!
Wow!!i didn’t see that coming.Well i’m sure he’ll work his way back up rather quick.Give me carano/cyborg because this weekend sucked.
Oh and congrats to bowles he did well.If anybody diserved it i think it was him….does anybody else think he looks like a miniture mark walberg?
Seemed to me that Bowles got pieced up pretty good, and weathered a couple storms in there. If he can defend (which I think he can) while Torres works his way back up should make for a really good rematch. Torres on the comeback trail is a scary thought though which should make it an even better fight next time around.
Dam;n i was RIGHT I RIGHT I CALLED AN UPSET.
36-2 is still an amazing record. still shocked. faber got plenty of props due to his training buddies fighting, benavides/castillo. mir pointed out that curran lost to faber, faber is argurably the face of the WEC along with torres. you cant go 10 minutes of a WEC fight without hearing one of those guys names being mentioned.
Just a few random thoughts coming out of WEC 42
- when popular fighters, or poster boys if you prefer, lose fights it may be great for the sport in general, but its usually not necessarily great news for the promotion. Sure, sometimes it can be, but not always. Torres losing to a relative no-name means the WEC now has to spend time, energy, and resources promoting Brian Bowles, while not appearing to disrespect Torres in any way. Not always an easy thing to do.
For example, Mike Brown is the 145 champion, but its still all about Faber.
Why?
Because thats how the fans want it. Many, like myself, feel that Faber would have won their rematch if it weren’t for a pair of bum hands, and Brown’s championship run isn’t sitting all that well. Thats what happens when a guy that well-regarded loses.
Some people can go ahead and throw Brown and even Bowles onto their personal best p4p lists, but I’m holding off until I see Faber rematch Brown injury-free, and see if Bowles can beat Torres again.
- Rani Yahya…nice choke.
- Leonard Garcia delivers another solid outing and Urijah Faber still gets mentioned more in 10 minutes than Garcia does all night. Tough stuff.
- Jeff Curran, harsh loss. That sort of decision going against you almost makes a fighter at his stage of his career chuck his gloves and focus on his business and family.
- nice to see the WEC still chugging along, putting on quality events and reportedly working within their pretty stringent budget.
Although they really need Faber back in the cage ASAP, and to get his belt back from Mike Brown. Same with Torres.
If the WEC is going to market itself as the “small man promotion”, then they need the top small men in the world holding belts, and not screwing around with relative no-names.
I say this in terms of business, and not the sport, of course.
As a fan of the sport, I think its awesome. If I were employed by the WEC, not so much.
And thats why the commentators aren’t falling all over themselves when a guy who many regarded as the best p4p fighter on the planet got KTFO’ed by a guy with like 7 fights.
- speaking of Torres, there isn’t going to be any “comeback trail” for him. I imagine he’s already blowing up the cels of everyone in the WEC front office, screaming about how he wants his immediate rematch, and he’ll get it. It’s easier to throw Bowles back in with Torres and hope Torres reclaims his belt rather than devote a fill-scale promotional effort for Bowles.
Remember, just because they are owned by Zuffa, the WEC doesn’t have a fraction of the UFC’s resources. They need to pick their spots, and their poster boys, and Brown and Bowles aren’t going to cut it as long as Faber and Torres are in the spotlight.
Of course both Brown and Bowles deserve their respect, but if you’re expecting more than that, you’re going to wind up disappointed.
I honestly believe that yes, the WEC will be making Bowles first title defense against Torres. It just makes sense from a marketing stand point for the next WEC fight card and for the promotion as a whole.
I do, however, really like Brown as a fighter and I think he is a great champion. He is lacking the charisma that Faber has but deserves all the respect in the world for what he has accomplished. I’m actually not even sure how they would market a third Faber v Brown fight after Brown beat Faber twice already. I think the best situation for the WEC is Aldo KTFOs Brown and by Aldo’s first title defense Faber should be ready to come back and challenge him for the title, and subsequently beats Aldo. Of course, that’s the best case scenario IMO.
As always, great write-up jchol.
Must be honest and say that I’ve not been actually watching WEC like I do UFC and other promotions, and my dad always told me its better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. In that spirit I’m not going to say much but that given the fact the this past WEC saved my weekend from becoming the Worst 1 EVERRRR, I’ll be paying much closer attention and watching alot of the fights I’ve missed recently.
Hoping your right about torres jcohl, myself I’m anxious to watch the rematch.
My Thoughts on this weekend:
Man i was shocked to see Torres lose the way he did. Congrats to Bowels. I think that Torres kinda underestimated Bowels and when Torres got him with that straight punch, i feel that he thought he hurt Bowels worse than he actually did and that’s what caused him to go after him recklessly like Babalu went after Liddell in their 2nd fight,Torres went after him with his hands down and didn’t respect Bowels punching power, but man what and ugly end to his title rain, ugly ko.
I know some people might disagree with me about this but here it is:
Anderson Silva is NOT as good as his opponents make him look. He’s developed this intimidation factor that wins him his fights before they even happen. Fighters give him waaayy too much respect and it throws them off completely. The only guy who has not been afraid of Silva has been Dan Henderson. He simply got careless in the second round of their fight and got submitted. I feel that once the fight started Forrest didn’t know what the hell he was doing and he didn’t know how to engage Silva. To be fair Silva got him with some pretty hard punches and when he let Forrest back up, Forrest was pretty much done which is why the last punch dropped him. If Forrest would have not paid any attention to Silva’s dancing and taunts, and if he would have just taken Silva to the ground he would have had a better chance, but he got caught up in all the Silva hype and simply looked like he was scared and in awe of Silva.
Silva needs an opponent who will not be afraid of him in any way, just like Bowels and Brown weren’t afraid of Faber and Torres, they didn’t get caught up in the “aura” or the hype of these guys being “unbeatable”. Silva is so confident and sure of himself that i feel it gets in his opponent’s heads. I honestly feel that he is a realyl good fighter, but he has a lot of wholes in his ground game, but guys are afraid to go after him like that, i don’t know why.
I think in you have to go in there and kinda give him no respect and fight your fight rather than just waiting for him to do something. If Forrest would have not just stood there…., the guy who beats Silva is the guy who will not over do it on the respect and just go after the fight. If Belfort makes it to a title fight with Silva i guarantee he will put Silva to sleep. Guys get too scared and mind fu*k themselves and lose the fight before the fight even begins, but to be fair to Silva, Forrest has a very weak chin and i think that played a big part in him dropping so easy.
“Silva needs an opponent who will not be afraid of him in any way”.
Camera pans to Dan Henderson.
EtherBunny, dude i’m not quite sure what your trying to say.
If your saying that Hendo isn’t afraid of Silva than i agree, but can you explain your reply dude. :)
Yeah, Hendo isn’t afraid of Silva and I think he is currently the person in the MW division that has the best chance at beating him.
Concerning Silva: “I honestly feel that he is a realyl good fighter, but he has a lot of wholes in his ground game, but guys are afraid to go after him like that, i don’t know why.”
I think if you asked Rich Franklin’s nose (twice), Forrest’s left eye, Chris Leben’s face, and Marquardt’s noggin, they could tell you why people are a little tentative about coming after him. Especially if he’s really fired up and motivated. But part of what makes him great is the carnage he has strewn behind him and the psychological boost he gets from it.
I agree Henderson is just about the only middleweight whose head Silva hasn’t gotten into. I am actually looking forward to seeing how that fight turns out.
When you annotate the body part check list, it’s almost like Anderson Silva is working to create some inverse MMA Frankenstein…
hendo put a picture on his twitter page that went like this, “who has two thumbs and is going to beat anderson silva in a rematch? THIS GUY!!!” heres the link.
http://www.clinchgear.com/clinchpic/2009/07/who-has-2-thumbs-is-gonna-beat-anderson.html
hes getting a little cocky already and the fight hasnt been announced yet. however more than likely it will be 107-109 imo. maybe even the manchester event at 105. anderson didnt even break a sweat against forrest.
Lets just say that I hope Hendo is right, but I don’t think I’ll be laying any folding green on Silva-Hendo 2, as much as I love the guy and his Clinch Gear boardshorts…
me too, ill believe it when hendo’s hand is raised as the winner and dana puts the belt around his waist.
I also am not trying to start anything by posting hendo’s and rampage’s tweets, just letting the frenzy know what these two knuckleheads are saying in case they dont have access to it.
Have to say it…Fredson handled Cole///Don’t know what the judges were watching//