Miguel Torres Retains Title Wednesday At WEC Snoozefest

Bantamweight Champion Miguel Angel Torres made it look easy in battering Manny Tapia Wednesday night in Las Vegas as WEC put on one of the more boring televised MMA cards this year.

Torres (35-1) used an effective jab to set up stronger punches in earning a 2nd round TKO (strikes) with just under two minutes to go. Tapia (10-1-1) spent most of the night bouncing around and trying to sneak through Torres' jab, but to no avail. A leading candidate to be Torres' next opponent is undefeated Brian Bowles, who was victorious on the undercard.

For the television audience, there was only one fight in the first 37 minutes of the event and the Torres/Tapia fight didn't begin until 9:56 pm EST. Considering how the rest of the card played out, this marks two straight WEC events that have featured lackluster and bizarre fights (Filho/Sonnen II anyone?), while the tape of Rob McCullough vs. Donald Cerrone is sitting somewhere in digital hell.

Also, that crowd sounded DEAD. That doesn't help the televised product much when the live crowd is virtually non-existent. WEC has had a great 2008, however, so they'll get a pass. Just let the public see Cerrone/McCullough, ok?

In other action:

Brian Bowles defeated Will Ribeiro via guitoillune choke at 1:11 of the 3rd (bantams)

This was a decent little fight, no pun intended. Lots of action in the first round and Bowles almost won with a choke submission then. Early in the third, Ribeiro shot in and took Bowles down, but Bowles immediately sunk in a guillotine choke and flipped him for the tap and win to stay undefeated at 7-0. Following the fight, he talked about getting a title shot and he's probably due for one now.

Wagnney Fabiano defeated Akitoshi Tamura via head-and-arm choke at 4:48 of the 3rd round (featherweights)

For an anticipated fight between two of the top fighters in their weight class in the world, this wasn't very fun to watch. Mostly on the ground with no action, this just went on and on and on with nothing really happening. Fabiano cut Tamura late in the round and then captured him in a choke just 12 seconds before the bell. Analyst Frank Mir made a great comment about how both guys are going to have to change their styles up a bit to keep up with the rest of the division. Yep...that's an understatement.

Joe Benavidez defeated Danny Martinez via unanimous decision (bantam)

This opened the televised show and was notable because it featured a female referee, the first time I've seen that...Benavidez trains with Urijah Faber and has a similar style: straight-ahead. He made the most of his opportunities, striking hard and getting the critical takedowns when he needed, especially in the first round. Benavidez won 30-27 on all cards, but needed more action for an opener.

Josh Nason has written and maintained Ropes, Ring and Cage since 2007 and can be reached at [e-mail]. If you are using any content or recapping from this site, please include a link to www.ropesringandcage.com. Thank you for your support!