World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) is set to pull the trigger on its next event tonight (Sunday, Aug. 9.) from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
WEC 42 features a 11-fight card, including a main event between 135-pound champion Miguel Torres and undefeated challenger Brian Bowles who will collide in a five-round affair for the right to be called the bantamweight king.
Co-headlining the show is another exciting 135-pound showdown between one of the most dangerous young fighters in the organization, Joseph Benavidez, and the red hot former 145-pound standout, Dominick Cruz, who is currently enjoying a four-fight win streak, including three under the WEC banner.
Many of our readers check-in before, during and after the Versus telecast at 9 p.m. ET to share their thoughts on the action. Therefore, feel free to leave a comment or 42 before you leave and chat with all the other Maniacs during the show — it always turns out to be a great discussion.
Keep in mind that we will also be the spot for the latest news, recaps and post-fight analysis after WEC 42.
Without further delay, see below for the latest WEC 42 results. (Note: This will go from the bottom up; therefore, scroll toward the bottom for the latest detailed round-by-round action!)
WEC 42 QUICK RESULTS:
Brian Bowles defeats Miguel "Angel" Torres via technical knockout (strikes) at 3:57 in round one to become the new WEC Bantamweight Champion
Dominick Cruz defeats Joseph Benavidez via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Danny Castillo defeats Ricardo Lamas via technical knockout (strikes) at 4:15 of round two
Takeya Mizugaki defeats Jeff "The Big Frog" Curran via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Leonard Garcia defeats 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 defeats Marcus Hicks via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Ed Ratcliff defeats Phil Cardella via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Diego Nunes defeats Rafael Dias via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Rani Yahya defeats John Hosman via submission (north-south choke) at 2:08 of round one
LC Davis defeats Javier Vasquez via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
WEC 42 PLAY-BY-PLAY LIVE MAIN CARD COMMENTARY:
James here
WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel "Angel" Torres vs. Brian Bowles
Round one: No gloves touching here. Miguel takes the center. Lots of feeling out in the early going. Bowles reaches with a jab that doesn't come close. Leg kick from Torres lands. Another. Torres misses with a jab and eats a big right hand from Bowles. Torres looks stunned for a moment, but bounces back with a flurry. Bowles again swings hard, but misses. Torres flurries and Bowles clinches. Takedown for Bowles and the champ takes full guard. Nice ground strikes from Bowles. Heel kicks from Torres. Bowles stands and eats a hard upkick from Torres. He gets back into Torres' guard and tries some more ground strikes before standing again, this time letting Torres follow suit. Hard jab from Torres leads to a big right from Bowles. High kick from Torres. Bowles misses with a one, two combo. Torres charges with a big flurry. Bowles backpedals and lands a big right hand. Torres hits the mat and Bowles pounces with big strikes. Torres is eating huge left hands and he's not defending. He's out. This fight is over. Miguel Torres has just been knocked out and Brian Bowles is the new WEC bantamweight champion of the world. WOW!!
Final result: Brian Bowles defeats Miguel "Angel" Torres via technical knockout (strikes) at 3:57 in round one to become the new WEC Bantamweight Champion
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Joseph Benavidez vs. Dominick Cruz
Round one: Wow, Cruz is much bigger than Benavidez. Here we go. Cruz takes the center and circles to his left. Leg kick from Benavidez. Another hard one. Cruz fakes a shoot and eats another leg kick. Benavidez charges with a combination of punches and eats a right hand as he was circling out. Benavidez falls to the mat after attempting a kick, but is quickly right back to his feet. Hard jab from Cruz hits it's mark. Benavidez charges again like a pitbull, but Cruz puts him on his back. Benavidez takes half guard from his back. He's looking for a guillotine, but Cruz stands and escpaes. Benavidez immediately lands a hard straight kick. Right hand from Benavidez. A hard left hand, right hand combo now from Benavidez. Cruz has a clear reach advantage, but Benavidez's speed and quickness is negating it well. Cruz misses with a right hand and Benavidez clinches and they go to the mat. Right back to their feet and Benavidez pins Cruz up against the fence. Another takedown for Cruz, but Benavidez scrambles his way back to his feet. Cruz had him mounted and had his back, but Benavidez was too quick for him. He was out in less than 5 seconds. Body kick from Benavidez as the round comes to a close. Very action packed round. Benavidez was taken down a few times, but he seemed to control the majority of the round. These little guys are extremely tough to judge though.
Round two: Cruz leans in and eats a kick for it. Quick combination from Benavidez. Another. He charges again with a flurry and finishes with a high kick. Cruz battles back and Benavidez clinches. He looks for a guillotine to defend the takedown and they stay on their feet. He pushes out now and they're separated. Benavidez fakes a shoot and Cruz backpedals. High kick from Cruz gets blocked. Benavidez charges again and loses his balance. Cruz capitalizes with a big right hand, a knee and then a takedown. He has Benavidez's back momentarily, but a squirmy Benavidez quickly gets back to his feet. Big left hand misses from Joseph. He charges again with a kick and a knee and they go into a clinch. He works for a single leg takedown for a moment, but gives up and the separate. Hard left hand from Benavidez. Cruz leans in and eats a right hand. Both guys miss with wild right hands. Cruz charges and Benavidez circles out. Benavidez fakes a shoot and attempts a spinning back fist that barely lands. Cruz now with another quick takedown and Benavidez has full guard as the round ends. I'm not even going to try to decided who's winning this fight.
Round three: Big roundhouse kick misses from Benavidez. Straight kick from Benavidez and Cruz lands a hard left hand, right hand combo. Cruz misses a high kick and lands on his back. Benavidez tries to capitalize, but Cruz is right back to his feet. Hard left hand lands from Benavidez. Uppercut just misses from Benavidez and Cruz circles out. Another left hand from Benavidez. Hard leg kick from Cruz puts Benavidez down for a second, but he pops right back to his feet. They clinch and again Cruz scores a takedown. The takedowns might just turn out to be the difference in this fight even though Benavidez has been impossible to hold down. Again he's right back to his feet. He tries a body kick, but Cruz blocks and lands a right hand. Big combo misses from Benavidez and Cruz circles out. Cruz leans in and eats another right hand. Big exchange from both fighters. They clinch and Cruz pushes Benavidez to the ground for another takedown, but again Benavidez pops right back up. Hard right hands from both guys. Another takedown for Cruz. He takes a mount momentarily, now has Benavidez's back with hooks. He flattens him and tees off with a few punches as the fight comes to a close. That last flurry from Cruz may have won him this fight.
Final result: Dominick Cruz defeats Joseph Benavidez via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
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Ricardo Lamas vs. Danny Castillo
Round one: Gloves touch and we're underway! Castillo looks huge. Lamas takes the center and both guys feel out their jabs. Castillo fakes a shoot and throws a nice combo. Nice jab from Lamas. Castillo shoots in and they clinch. Lamas spins Castillo's back against the fence and then pushes out. Another fake shoot from Castillo that makes Lamas flinch. Lamas looks a bit uncomfortable in the stand up here. More jabs from Castillo. Castillo is stalking Lamas down now. They clinch for a second and then break up. Lamas misses on a high kick. He tries another and misses again. Both guys are pushing the jabs, but neither one is really connecting with anything. Hard leg kick from Lamas and Castillo answers with one of his own. Lamas charges with a big combo, finishing it up with a body kick. Castillo circles out and throws more jabs. Another high kick misses from Lamas, but a leg kick connects. Hard left, right from Castillo and Lamas clinches. He pushes Castillo against the fence, but they break out. Jab from Lamas. Castillo stalking again with one, two combos. Both fighters eat jabs with ten seconds to go. The bell rings on a close and difficult to score round. Could go either way. Castillo looked more comfortable early on, but Lamas came on at the end. Tough to judge.
Round two: Castillo takes the center again. He lands a nice leg kick. Another. Lamas answers with one of his own. Castillo charges in and lands a hard left hand. Lamas stays in there and lands a hard combo of his own. Castillo shoots and Lamas shrugs him off. High kick misses from Lamas. Nice body kick from Lamas and Castillo misses with a wild right hand. Leg kick from Castillo. Lamas answers with one of his own. Castillo shoots again, but Lamas sprawls and pushes him off. Another nice combo from Lamas with a head kick at the end. Lamas' striking is looking a lot better compared to early on in the fight. Hard combo from Castillo gets blocked. High kick from Lamas gets blocked. Nice exchange and Castillo gets the better with a big nasty body shot. Jabs from Lamas and he charges in with a head kick that lands. He fakes another and Castillo retreats. Another hard body shot from Castillo and Lamas answers with a body kick. Big Big overhand right from Castillo hands right on the button and Ricardo Lamas folds up. Castillo pounces and it doesn't take him long to finish off the wounded fighter. Perfectly placed punch from Danny Castillo. Nasty!
Final result: Danny Castillo defeats Ricardo Lamas via technical knockout (strikes) at 4:15 of round two
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Jeff "The Big Frog" Curran vs. Takeya Mizugaki
Round one: Mizugaki takes the center and throws a leg kick. Curran circles and throws one of his own. Mizugaki tries another and Curran catches it and pushes Mizugaki against the fence. He's working hard for the single leg takedown while eating numerous punches from Mizugaki. Elbows now from Mizugaki. Curran is latched on to that leg. Mizugaki now down to a knee and continues to fire away with the elbows. Body shots now from the Japanese fighter. Back to their feet, but Curran still has the leg with Mizugaki's back against the cage. He finally let's go of the leg and Mizugaki spins Curran's back against the fence now. Knees from Mizugaki now, and he slams Curran down for the takedown. Curran with a closed guard. Hard, hard ground strikes from Mizugaki. Curran defends and keeps his guard. Armbar attempt from Curran and he sweeps to Mizugaki's back. He gets his hooks in momentarily, but Mizugaki spins out and takes the top position again. Half guard for Curran. Full butterfly guard now. The round ends in that position. I score it for Mizugaki 10-9.
Round two: Gloves touch for round two and Curran with a hard right hand. Mizugaki takes the center and there's a nice exchange. Hard leg kick from Mizugaki. Curran doesn't look scared to exchange here in round two. Leg kick, right hand combo from Curran. Leg kick misses from Mizugaki. Hard three punch combo for Curran then he circles out. Mizugaki charges, lands a couple of punches then wraps Curran up against the cage. Knees to the body from the clinch from Curran. Nice judo-style takedown from Mizugaki and Curran takes full guard. Mizugaki stands, but Curran pulls him back down. Nice work from both Curran on the bottom and Mizugaki on the top with strikes. Curran working the heel kicks from the bottom. Mizugaki transitions to half guard and looks for side control before Curran pulls him back into his guard. Triangle attempt from Curran, but Mizugaki shakes it off. Guillotine attempt now from Curran with full guard. Mizugaki looks to be alright as he continues to work the strikes with ten seconds to go in the round. The bell sounds for a very close round. Could go either way. I give it to Curran 10-9 though for staying busy with submission attempts and strikes off his back and winning the majority of the stand up exchanges.
Round three: Curran takes the center for round three and he charges with a combo. Leg kick misses for Curran and he shoots for a takedown attempt. Mizugaki shrugs it off and they clinch. Mizugaki spins Curran's back against the cage and scores another takedown. Curran again gets a full guard immediately. Nice ground strikes from the Japanese fighter. Triangle attempt from Curran goes nowhere. Nice punches from both guys and Curran continues to land kicks to the body from his back. More punches and kicks from Curran off his back. Mizugaki is landing sporadic ground strikes, but it seems like Curran is landing more from his back. Nice elbows now from Mizugaki. Curran answers back with some more punches to the side of Mizugaki's head. Butterfly guard for Curran and he looks for Mizugaki's arm for a moment before letting it go. More strikes from both guys. Curran's guard has been very active in this fight. He's defending the ground and pound well and doing damage with strikes. Nice transition for Curran now and he has a deep deep triangle choke! Sick! Now Curran rolls Mizugaki to his back while continuing to hold the choke. He lands a few strikes from that position and the round ends. Wow. Jeff Curran might have just stole the fight at the end there. This is going to be a very close decision. I score it 2 rounds to 1 for Jeff Curran. Very good fight either way.
Final result: Takeya Mizugaki defeats Jeff "The Big Frog" Curran via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
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