WEC 48 Preview: The Main Card

Antonio Banuelos vs. Scott Jorgensen

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The Breakdown: The search for the next great bantamweight may well coincide with the rematch of the certified epic throwdown between Banuelos and Jorgensen from WEC 41. Fate and the judges smiled on Banuelos the first time around as he took a coin-flip split decision, but Jorgensen’s ongoing fistic evolution has many pegging him as the odds-on favorite to join the bantamweight title fray.

No bout better illustrates Jorgensen’s infinite upside than his decision win over battle-hardened veteran Takeya Mizugaki at WEC 45, where he showed off an explosive brand of dirty boxing previously missing from his game. This is an important variable. In their first fight, Banuelos often used the clinch after landing flurries to keep Jorgensen from answering back. The clinch is no longer a safe place for Banuelos, and this new weapon in Jorgensen’s arsenal will only help him push the pace that left the John Hackleman protégé gasping for oxygen in the bout’s closing moments.

While Banuelos is still the more fundamentally sound striker, he doesn’t quite have the power to stop Jorgensen, who reacts to getting hit like it’s a minor inconvenience. Being able to take punishment and press your opponent like you’re a T-800 is a rare quality in MMA, and it clearly wore on Banuelos as their first bout progressed.

The blunt truth is that Jorgensen is going to be a better version of the fighter Banuelos just barely beat nearly a year ago while Banuelos remains the same fighter he’s been for some time. It would be hard to imagine Banuelos replicating the success he had stopping Jorgensen’s takedowns considering the improvements Jorgensen showed in out-wrestling Mizugaki with relative ease.

Just as difficult to imagine would be Jorgensen settling into the rhythm of the first fight, where he often aimlessly stalked Banuelos and left the door open for him to step in with combinations. We’re starting to see Jorgensen develop an actual style, and it’s all about pressing opponents against the cage and creating offense in tight spaces. That isn’t the kind of fight Banuelos is looking for, and it’s not the kind of fight he can win.

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The Bottom Line: Banuelos nearly lost his air supply in the first fight thanks to Jorgensen’s ungodly powerful front headlock series. Considering Jorgensen’s sudden penchant for landing massive power shots from close quarters, that front headlock series is now an even bigger problem for Banuelos, as he can ill-afford stumbling into a scramble while dazed and confused. The meat grinder inside the clinch will wear on Banuelos. He’ll eventually make the mistake of changing levels and landing headfirst in one of Jorgensen’s gorilla grip guillotines.