WEC 37 – More Exciting Midweek Matchups

The headlining fight at the last World Extreme Cagefighting event was a huge upset. Nobody expected the underdog, Mike Brown, to upset Urijah Faber, but anything can happen on a Wednesday evening. On a night when you’ll find no college or NFL football, and just a handful of NBA games, most of the action will be found at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas when Bantamweight champion Miguel Torres looks to defend his belt against the undefeated Manny Tapia. The rest of the card isn’t full of slouches either. The WEC will be showcasing the top lightweight, bantamweight, and featherweight fighters in the world.

Miguel Torres wasn’t just handed his bantamweight belt either. On a warm summer night in June, he and Yoshiro Maeda showed the world why the WEC was the best mixed martial arts promotion on non-PPV television. EliteXC was still alive and somewhat well and Affliction had all these talks of big events, but it’s the WEC that continues to provide interesting matchups between smaller, faster, and typically more technical fighters. Expect to the see the same kind of action tomorrow night when the WEC returns to Vegas for another night of cheap (if you even have to pay extra for Versus) MMA action.

Here are my predictions and a quick synopsis of each fight on the main card:
Miguel Torres vs. Manny Tapia: I’m not taking Manny Tapia lightly, but Miguel Torres really proved to us all that he is a very tough fighter. I can see Torres coming out of this battle victorious in the 2nd round via TKO.
Brian Bowles vs. Will Ribeiro: Don’t let the names fool you in this matchup. The Brazilian, Ribeiro, is a standup Thai fighter while Bowles, the American, will be looking for the submission. I’m thinking Ribeiro in R2 via TKO.
Wagnney Fabiano vs. Akitoshi Tamura: Akitoshi Tamura is a guy who doesn’t finish a lot of fights before the final bell. Wagney Fabiano is a fairly well-known BJJ guy who has fought in the IFL. This is a no-brainer with Fabiano via submission in R1.
Joseph Benavidez vs. Danny Martinez: Joseph Benavidez is a submission fighter who is bringing his 8-0 record against the hard hitting Danny Martinez. I’m not so sure of my pick, but I’ll take Martinez via TKO in R3.
Johny Hendricks vs. Justin Haskins: I’m taking Team Takedown Johny Hendricks in this fight with a submission in R1. Justin Haskins is a great fighter, but his lone loss comes by way of submission.