WEC 37 Preview

WEC 37 will be playing prior to the Ultimate Fighter doubleheader. The event will feature a match between two of the best 135 pounders in the game with Miguel Torres putting his title on the line against Manny Tapia. Below are the announced bouts.

MAIN CARD (TELEVISED)

Champ Miguel Torres vs. Manny Tapia (BW Title)- expect a scrappy and hard fought match between these two young stars. Torres is lightning quick with excellent grappling. He also has a good muay thai game, with dangerous elbows. He has 15 wins in a row with 3 straight in the WEC. His big wins have come over Chase Beebe, Jeff Bedard, Joe Pearson, and Yoshiro Maeda in a fight of the year fight.

Tapia is known for his boxing and ground and pound offense. He will throw wild and powerful strikes, and may look for the big punch against Torres. This will be Tapia's first fight since a knee injury put him on the shelf for 12 months. His big wins have come over Antonio Banuelos, Shad Smith and Brandon Foxworth.

Brian Bowles vs. Will Ribeiro- The winner of this fight will likely move to the number one contender at 135. Bowles is 6-0, going 3-0 in the WEC so far. His three wins in the WEC came over quality fighters in Damacio Page, Marcos Galvao and Charlie Valencia. Ribeiro is 11-1 with a recent split decision win over Chase Beebe.

Wagnney Fabiano vs. Akitoshi Tamura- Fabiano (10-1) was the IFL's only 145 pound champion. He is extremely fast with a fantastic submission game. He went 6-0 in the IFL with 5 submissions and a KO over Shad Lierley. Tamura is a Shooto veteran with wins over top fighters Takeshi "Lion Takeshi" Inoue and a recent win over Ruminato Sato.

Joseph Benavidez vs. Danny Martinez- Benavidez is a strong prospect with an 8-0 record, with a recent win at Dream 5 over Junya Kudo. Martinez has a record of 12-2, with three straight wins.

Justin Haskins vs. Johny Hendricks- Johny Hendricks is a former NCAA Champion wrestler with lightning fast takedowns. Hendricks won the 2005 and 2006 championships at 165 pounds. He placed second in 2007. Haskins will want to keep the fight standing or look for a submission off his back. Haskins has a 4-1 record. Hendricks is 3-0 with two TKO's and a D'Arce choke victory.

PRELIMS (UN-TELEVISED)

Alex Karalexis vs. Bart Palaszewski- This is IFL star Bart Palaszewski's first bout in the WEC. The hard puncher will be looking for a knockout. Karalexis had three wins in the WEC before losing to Ed 9mm Ratliff.
Ricardo Barros vs. Mark Munoz
Blas Avena vs. Kevin Knabjian
Diego Nunes vs. Cole Province
Cub Swanson vs. Hirouki Takaya
Shane Roller vs. Mike Budnik


(Miguel Torres pictured)

Video of the Day- Wagnney Fabiano v. L.C. Davis

Here is Wagnney Fabiano (10-1) v. L.C. Davis (10-1) in the International Fight League. Fabiano is the current featherweight champ of the sinking IFL. L.C. was recently signed by the WEC. Hopefully Fabiano gets signed next to fight Urijah Faber. The IFL is sinking fast.

IFL New Blood New Battles Results

I have yet to see any of these fights yet as I haven't found them on Youtube yet. The IFL staff will probably post a couple of them for publicity, I'd like to see the head kick by LC Davis and Hieron's dominating performance.

Alex Schoenauer def. Brendan Barrett via Decision (Split)
LC Davis def. Rafael Dias via KO (Head Kick) R3, 3:56
Chris Horodecki def. Nate Lamotte via Decision (Unanimous)
Jim Miller def. Bart Palaszewski via Decision (Unanimous)
Brad Blackburn def. Delson Heleno via TKO (Strikes) R3, 1:50
LHW Champ- Vladimir Matyushenko def. Jamal Patterson via TKO (Strikes) R2, 3:35
FW Champ- Wagnney Fabiano def. Shad Lierley KO (Punch) 1 0:37
WW Champ- Jay Hieron def. Mark Miller TKO (Strikes) R1, 2:10
Emyr Bussade def. Jesse Lennox Sub (Kneebar) R2, 1:25
Mike Ciesnolevicz and Carmelo Marrero No Contest (Cut) 1 1:37

Video of the Day - Schultz v. Horodecki II

This video shows the second fight between Chris Horodecki and Ryan Schultz, this one for the IFL GP 155 pound title. The first encounter left Schultz unconscious and taken out in a stretcher. The IFL posted this video on youtube.



Rest of the results:
Marcello Salazar def. Alex Cook via unanimous decision, round three

Brett Cooper def. Rory Markham via TKO (strikes) at 1:15 of round two - Brett Cooper (7-4, 3 wins in a row) is a great young prospect, this was a slugfest.

Tim Kennedy def. Elias Rivera via KO (punch) at 2:30 of round one - Tim Kennedy overmatched Rivera from start to finish. He next takes on Horwich for the MW title on 2/29/08.



-Belts-
Roy Nelson def. Antoine Jaoude via TKO at 0:20 of round two - Roy Nelson (IFL HW Champ) is (11-2, 3 wins in a row) now and looks to be the new Ben Rothwell of the IFL.

Wagnney Fabiano def. L.C. Davis via submission (armbar) at 3:38 of round one - Fabiano (FW champ)(9-1, 5 wins in a row) is the face of the IFL's new featherweight class.

Jay Hieron def. Delson Heleno via TKO (injury due to strikes) at 4:00 of round one - big upset, ex-UFC WW Jay Hieron (14-4) is now the IFL welterweight champ.

Matt Horwich def. Benji Radach via TKO (strikes) at 1:58 of round two - Horwich (MW champ)(21-9, 3 wins in a row) is certainly an interesting character, but his intense, non-stop fighting style is great to watch.

Vladimir Matyushenko (20-3, 7 wins in a row) won the LHW belt in the first round of the grand prix. Vladdy's has had an excellent MMA career with wins over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (12-3, Lil Nog), Pedro Rizzo (16-7), Travis Wiuff (49-11), Yuki Kondo (48-20-6), Alex Schoenauer (12-9) for IFL belt, Anthony Ruiz (21-10) and Travis Fulton (182-44).