Post WEC 47: Going Forward at 135

While WEC 47 was as usual another quality fight card from WEC packed with entertaining fights and memorable finishes, more than anything we learned a great deal about the 135lb division. Less than a year ago Miguel Torres was the undisputed king of the bantamweight division, riding a seventeen fight winning streak into his August fight with Brian Bowles most people thought Torres was set to rule bantamweight for years to come. 3:57 into the fight the aura of invincibility was gone, for the first time in six years Miguel Torres lost a fight.

The level of hype behind Torres coming into the fight was on par with pound for pound mainstay BJ Penn and defeating him in such a convincing fashion established Bowles at the top of the division. Still fairly young and still improving it looked likely that Bowles could very well reign for a long time. Once again we found out on Saturday that the fight for top bantamweight in the world is still very much raging on.

Over ten minutes Dominick Cruz put on the most brilliant performance of his career and outclassed Brain Bowles to capture the WEC title. While it should be noted that Bowles broke his hand very early in the first it was Cruz footwork, jab, and movement at angles that left Bowles clueless and frustrated. While Cruz still has holes in his defense his boxing skills are impressive and couple that with very good wrestling skills taking his belt will be no easy task.

In the co-main event of the night Joseph Benavidez pulled off what many consider to be a big upset over Miguel Torres. After Benavidez opened up a horrible cut Torres missed a armbar and rolled for single that left his neck exposed and one guillotine later Benavidez became the first man in forty fights to submit the former champion. Torres seemed tentative and despite having a seven inch height advantage and a massive eleven inch reach Benavidez more than held his own while standing. Ultimately it was Torres lack of takedown defense and the ferocity of Benavidez ground attack that overwhelmed Torres. 

Miguel Torres is at the lowest point of his career, being knocked out and submitted for the first time back to back cant be an easy thing to come back from so some time off may be in order. I would say the WEC needs to throw him a lesser opponent next time out instead of another top level contender.

Brian Bowles wont be fighting anybody until that hand heals up but matching him with anyone decent when he's ready to fight again would be acceptable. He doesn't have the name value of Torres and I cant see the WEC rushing him back to the belt after his performance against Cruz.

With impressive victory's over Rani Yahya and Torres Joseph Benavidez seems like the most logical number one contender at this point. The only problem is Cruz won a decisive decision less than a year ago and while Benavidez looks to have improved a great deal Saturday so did Cruz. It would be a acceptable fight but I find it very hard to give Benavidez much of a chance at this point. One more good win would make me more satisfied with him getting a rematch but if Cruz wants to fight again by May or June Benavidez will likely get the shot.

Another option and a more dangerous style match up for Cruz is Scott Jorgenson. Using a vicious guillotine Jorgenson scored his third straight win since his highly controversial split decision loss to Antonio Banuelos last year. Jorgenson looks better each time he fights and still hasn't hit his peak yet. Much of the success Cruz has standing is based around his wrestling ability. Usually he doesn't have to worry about being taken down because he's the better wrestler, against Jorgenson he wont have that advantage. Despite the fact that I think Jorgenson has a legit shot at beating Cruz right now i'd rather not see the fight yet. Jorgenson will only get better with experience and cage time so I would  rather see him fight once or twice before fighting for the belt.

With a win over Damacio Page at WEC 48 the third option would be Antonio Banuelos. While Banuelos likely would offer the least to Cruz as a title challenger he does have two things going for him over the above two fighters. A. He won a gift decision over Jorgenson, B. Cruz vs Banuelos isn't a rematch. Between the love triangle at lightweight and the likelihood that we'll see another rematch for the belt at 145 before the year is over, being a fresh face may help Banuelos cause. From my view he needs to beat Page in very impressive fashion to warrant a title shot.

Dominick Cruz has stated that he injured his hand on Saturday so if by the chance he needs to take a few extra months off i'd like to see Benavidez vs Jorgenson for the true number one contender. In a perfect world we'll see that fight this spring and hopefully a title fight by July with the Page/Banuelos winner on the deck as replacement if necessary.

Either way it's clear that Bantamweight is still very much an evolving weight class and it will be very interesting to see where it goes from here as the quality of the fighters continue to improve and new faces continue to come along. It's a damn good time to be a MMA fan.