Torres Pulls Off a Decision in One of the Best WECs in Recent History
Published by Jim Genia on April 6th, 2009 in Current Events

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To say that Miguel Torres entered the cage at WEC 40 a heavy favorite would be an understatement. To say that opponent Takeya Mizugaki put up one heck of a fight, capping off a stellar night of fights, well, that hits the nail right on the head. At the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, local stars Jeff Curran and Bart Palaszewski came up short against 134-pound wrestler Joseph Benavidez and 156-pound striker Anthony Njokuani, respectively, while lightweight scrapper Ben Henderson withstood Shane Roller’s best to feed him leather and send him careening to the canvas. From top to bottom it was all out action and for fans of Torres – a man who just may be one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world – the icing on the cake was his hard-fought win.

Untouchable bantamweight champ Torres looked very “touchable” last night, needing all five rounds to make his case against the Japanese Shooto veteran, who himself proved to be game, durable and tenacious right up until the final bell. From the outset this one was a slugfest, a contest of who could strike more, strike hardest and still remain standing, and Mizugaki, unconcerned with Torres’ reach advantage, established early on that he was going to mark up the champ’s face. Yet thanks to his seemingly tireless pace Torres prevailed. Undaunted by a potentially bout-ending cut above his eye in Round 3, the American hammered out the win to retain his belt and appease the partisan crowd. Really, though, for his gutsy performance, Mizugaki came away looking like a stud, so the WEC’s 135-pound division now has another warrior to look out for in the future.

The ultra-experienced, ultra-skilled Curran just cannot catch a break these days. Taking on Urijah Faber’s training partner in Benavidez, the little guy known as “Big Frog” called upon perfectly-timed boxing and a slew of submission attempts to threaten the California native, but Benavidez was all-attack, all the time with a plethora of kicks and tight punches, and when time ran out the judges awarded him the unanimous decision. Curran looked great; Benavidez just looked better.

The same cannot be said for Palaszewski. Although taking the fight on only two weeks notice, the former IFL lightweight champ should have had the skills and the experience to handle the lanky Njokuani. But he came up short in the striking war, tasting canvas not once but twice before the referee stepped in to wave the bout off.

Henderson was an unknown before WEC 40. He pretty much still is, but at least fans know he can survive getting rocked, work free from a tight guillotine and swing for the fences. Roller made the mistake of standing and trading with him – a mistake that resulted in a pair of buckles legs and a justifiable referee stoppage in a little over a minute and a half.

In the opening bout of the Versus channel broadcast, veteran grappler Rafael Assuncao controlled Jameel Massouh to earn the decision, but like Mizugaki, Massouh came away looking pretty impressive for his performance. He was out-struck and out-worked on the ground, yet was able to avoid the Brazilian’s best on the ground and remain competitive all the way through the third round. Both featherweights should be back.

Rarely do events deliver as WEC 40 did, and for that everyone from Torres on down to Massouh deserves a ton of credit. Hopefully the organization can keep it up.