As the Extreme Sports channel continues with their regular rotation of old World Extreme Cagefighting shows we’re now going back to December 2008 as Manny Tapia challenged Miguel Torres for the Bantamweight title at WEC 37.
The broadcast began with bantamweight action as Joseph Benavidez faced Danny Martinez.
An encounter between two debuting fighters proved to be an intriguing if unspectacular three rounder. Both guys put on a good display of striking, although as the fight went on Benavidez took control with his jab/hook tactics.
Benavidez may have been in control in the third but as the fight came to an end Martinez sprang to live with a flurry of blows.
All three judges scored in favour of Benavidez.
The bantamweight action continued as Brian Bowles faced Will Ribeiro.
Bowles put in a great performance here. His striking was crisp and his ground work was good, especially in the third round when he locked in a guillotine choke that Ribeiro barely escaped from.
The Brazilian had his moments, but these didn’t happen that often, and when he went for a take down in the third Bowles countered with a guillotine. Once again Ribeiro tried to fight it, but it wasn’t long before he tapped out to give Bowles the submission win.
Then it was up to featherweight and two more debuting fighters as Wagnney Fabiano took on Akitoshi Tamura.
If you ever want to see a good example of effective ground fighting then give this one a look.
It went to the ground early, and while Fabiano put on a great offensive display Tamura was up to the task with some sound defensive work.
However, the Japanese star just couldn’t get much offence going off his back, with Fabiano escaping from his guillotine attempt by wall walking to relieve the pressure.
The end came towards the end of the third round as Fabiano locked in an arm triangle for the submission win.
The main event saw Manny Tapia challenging Miguel Torres for the Bantamweight title.
Torres came into this fight with a huge reach advantage, and he used it to good effect, keeping Tapia at bay with his stinging jabs.
Tapia got in a few good body shots, but as the fight entered the second round Torres took control.
A big right rocked Tapia and sent him to the ground. Another big right sent Tapia down for the second time, with Torres following him down for some ground and pound. It wasn’t long before the referee had seen enough as he stopped the fight to give Torres the title retaining TKO win.
In conclusion - another good show from the UFC’s little brother. Although it wasn’t packed with spectacular action the majority of the fighting was sound, with the performance of Miguel Torres the highlight of the night for me.
So in all a good show, and once again I’ll say that if you live in Britain and haven’t seen this show yet don’t worry. Just keep an eye on the Extreme Sports channel. I’m sure it will be on again.7
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