WEC 37 Review

Last night was a really solid night. The bantamweights were on full display and there was a top 10 featherweight scrap as well. Miguel Torres defended not only his belt but his P4P status. Brian Bowles proved why he should be next in line for a title shot. And Wagnney Fabiano made an impressive debut and immediately put himself in title contention and skyrocketed himself up the featherweight ranks. Along with all of this it was the first time I saw a female referee which I think is fantastic! I was sure they existed but it's good to start seeing them in the big shows (also it was kind of funny that she towered over her two bantamweight combatants)! With all that said let's see how my predictions went.

Cub Swanson v. Hiroyuki Takaya: Swanson pulled out the decision just like I expected. Put it on the board!

Bart Palaszewski v. Alex Karalexis: I was way off on this one with Karalexis getting the KO in the second round.

Wagnney Fabiano v. Akitoshi Tamura: This was an incredibly technical fight and it was obvious that over the last two rounds Fabiano was going singularly for the arm triangle and finally pulled it off at the very end of the third round. It honestly got a little boring for me because it basically turned into a no gi grappling match. Although it was impressive to watch it wasn't exciting. In any case Fabiano makes an impressive WEC debut and immediately puts himself into title contention for Mike Brown's belt. Unfortunately I think he'll need a couple more fights because Leonard Garcia gets the first shot and if Urjiah Faber wins his rematch against Jens Pulver he'll probably get the shot after that. However, I would love to see Fabiano fight Jeff Curran in the mean time. I got the pick right here but not the prediction.

Brian Bowles v. Will Ribeiro: This fight was much more exciting. These two guys really went at it. They both traded on the feet with Bowles holding his own even though his striking was not as crisp as Ribeiro. However, he won the fight on the ground with consistent sweeps and submission attempts in addition to a takedown or two. He finally was able to end the fight in the third with a great guillotine choke. Bowles has to be the next challenger in line for Miguel Torres' title. I got the pick right here but not the prediction.

Miguel Torres v. Manny Tapia: Torres was simply toying with Tapia the whole fight. All he did outside of jab in the first round was try a spinning axe kick which was hysterical. In the second he finally let his right hand go and the fight was almost immediately over as he landed two devastating combinations before sending Tapia to the mat and pounding him out. It's scary how good Torres is. He never went to the ground which is technically his strong suit proving that he wants to beat people at their own game just to prove he can. On top of that he beat Tapia who is a great striker with essentially one hand in the first round before unleashing his other one in the second to end the fight. Tapia had absolutely no chance in this fight which is scary considering Tapia is a top 10 bantamweight. This fight to me solidified Torres as one of the top 5 fighters P4P in the world and he should be mentioned in the same breath as BJ Penn and GSP. I got the fight right but not the prediction.

It was a solid night for me going 4-1 with one bonus point. The WEC, as always, put on a solid show (Frank Mir's rambling excluded - you know it's bad when your own play by play guy is cleaning up the verbal vomit spewing from your mouth). My TUF wrap ups will be coming soon so stay tuned for that. Also, next week is Fight for the Troops and the TUF Finale so stay tuned for those previews and reviews as well. It's gonna be a busy December! Until next time,

Soccer kicks and head stomps...