While the average fan basks in the UFC 101 afterglow, the hardcores will be chomping at the bit for WEC 42 “Torres vs. Bowles” this Sunday at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The a main event features World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight juggernaut Miguel Torres defending his strap against top contender Brian Bowles, which means every last one of you should have your eyeballs glued to a television come fight time.
WEC Bantamweight Championship
Miguel Torres (37-1) vs. Brian Bowles (7-0)
The Breakdown: Torres, the WEC bantamweight champion and certified pound-for-pound luminary, will put both those accolades on the line yet again, with Bowles, the number one contender, looking to play spoiler this time around. What separates Bowles from past victims of the Wolfcut connoisseur is not just his strong wrestling background but an overall versatility that leaves no glaring weaknesses for Torres to readily exploit. Still, Torres figures to look to find some, as he has proven adept at adapting his game on the fly to fit whatever opponent stares at him from across the cage.
Bowles’ best bet against someone like Torres would be to show him something he has not seen before, and his unique combination of dominant top control and submission savvy is something with which Torres has yet to deal. By the same token, Bowles has yet to take on someone with the hyperactive mat game Torres so brutally employs against anyone foolish enough to enter his domain. Unfortunately for Bowles, his boxing is not developed enough to handle Torres’ multi-faceted muay Thai style, which will leave him hoping he can corral one of the sport’s preeminent grapplers for however long it takes to find a strategy that works. On paper, Bowles is certainly Torres’ toughest test to date, but that only means Torres will look to make him his biggest skin to date.
The X Factor: With just seven fights to his name, Bowles will give up a world of experience to Torres. How that plays out over the course of the fight looms large. If the prospect of challenging for a title with only seven professional fights under his belt proves overwhelming for Bowles, he could get dispatched in short order, but if he takes this opportunity at face value and stays composed, you may see Torres’ run short-circuited.
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The Bottom Line: If not for Torres, Bowles would probably be the man leading the bantamweight division’s charge into the hearts and minds of casual fans. That fact will become painfully clear, however, when Torres picks apart Bowles from afar before forcing him to make his biggest mistake yet -- taking the fight to the mat. A dazed Bowles will have tapped out long before he realizes his folly, while Torres celebrates with what’s sure to be a killer post-fight promo. Keep your fingers crossed that he continues his one-man public relations war with Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s ego.