WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres and top undefeated challenger Brian Bowles will finally collide at WEC 42, which has been confirmed to take place at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sunday, August 9.
Earlier reports had pegged the show to go down on Aug. 16; however, MMAmania.com has been able to independently confirm the new date after seeing a report on NWI.com this morning.
Torres and Bowles were initially booked to throwdown at WEC 40 in front of Torres' hometown crowd at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Ill., on Sunday, April 5. Unfortunately, the undefeated Hardcore Gym prospect suffered an undisclosed injury in training and was scratched from the main event.
World-ranked Takeya Mizugaki stepped in to replace Bowles and gave Torres -- arguably the most talented pound-for-pound fighter in the world -- all he could handle, taking the champion the distance for the first time in four years. Mizugaki would eventually lose the five-round decision, but earned a ton of respect from just about everyone who witnessed the thrilling scrap ... especially Torres.
Torres is no stranger to great fights -- his back-and-forth battle with Yoshiro Maeda at WEC 34 was one of the best brawls of 2008. He followed up that performance by mangling Manny Tapia six months later in December of that same year.
All told, the champ has put together five straight wins under the WEC banner, beginning with his debut for the promotion against Jeff Bedard in September of 2007, easily winning with a first round triangle choke. Following that he was granted a title shot against Chase Beebe at WEC 32 in February, taking it early with a first round submission.
Torres is clearly established with nearly 40 professionals fights to his credit. Bowles, on the other hand, is one of the real up and coming prospects in the organization.
Bowles has put together four solid wins for the promotion over Charlie Valencia (submission), Marcos Galvao (knockout), Damacio Page (submission) and Will Ribeiro (submission). He trains out of the "Hard Core" gym in Athens, which is considered the American Top Team of Georgia. Some other recognizable names that train there are Rory Singer, Cale Yarbrough, Stephen Ledbetter and others.
No question he's earned his number one contender spot, but he'll face the stiffest challenge of his young career when he gets locked inside a cage opposite Torres. He'll need to be at his absolute best on Aug. 9 to stay competitive.
Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for the latest news and updates regarding WEC 42.