Photo by Sherdog.com
Miguel Torres will confront
Takeya Mizugaki.
One half of the main event of World Extreme Cagefighting’s April 5th card bowed out this week. Due to a back injury, Brian Bowles is out of a bantamweight title fight against Miguel Torres in Torres’ backyard of Chicago. The WEC rebounded handsomely from the shakeup, signing No. 6 ranked bantamweight and Cage Force veteran Takeya Mizugaki to face Torres in an equally compelling bout. Two other significant fights at 135 pounds are set for the show, as Joseph Benavidez will meet Jeff Curran and Manny Tapia will face Akitoshi Tamura.
This Sunday’s WEC 39 semi-main event was also reconfigured this week after lightweight Rich Crunkilton bowed out of his fight with Bart Palaszewski due to injury. The fight was expected to determine a future challenger for lightweight champion Jamie Varner, who may rematch Donald Cerrone first after recovering from an eye injury and hand surgery. Palaszewski will now face Illinois-based fighter Ricardo Lamas, a three-time Division III All-American wrestler with a 5-0 pro record.