Torres was released by the UFC after comments he made on his Twitter account concerning rape that did not go over well with the fight promotion. After asking for a return and doing work around the community that showed his good sided, the 40-4 Torres was granted another chance. The popular mulleted Mixed Martial Artist will be looking for his third UFC win in four fights.

His opponent, McDonald, is a perfect 3-0 in the Octagon and 14-1 overall. Among his victories include a 56-second knockout of Alex Soto.

UFC 145 is expected to take place in Atlanta. Recently, several fights that were set for a card in Canada in March were shifted to Atlanta, and a main event for UFC 145 is scheduled to be announced soon.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

White introduced Torres earlier today after the pre-fight press conference for UFC 141 where he explained the 30-year old had attoned for his sins by donating time, and money, to rape centers in the Chicago area where the mulleted Mixed Martial Artist resides. He was also said to have undergone sensitivity classes, giving him a new perspective on why rape is not a subject for punchlines.

Torres had also gone online after the original incident to apologize while vowing to become a better person as a result of his mistake.

No word was given on when Torres would return to the Octagon. He was last seen in November at UFC 139 where he outpointed Nick Pace on the preliminary portion of the card. Torres has won three of his last four fights with the lone exception involving a hard-fought decision loss to Demetrious Johnson.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

According to multiple sources, Torres has been dropped by the UFC as a result of his insensitive humor and in the words of UFC President Dana White, “His career with us is over now.”

News of the release was first reported by Sports Illustrated.

For the record, Torres’ Tweet in question read, “If a rape van was called a surprise van more women wouldn’t mind going for rides in them. Everyone like surprises.”

Though the outright termination of Torres’ contract seems harsh it appears a line in the sand has been drawn by UFC brass meaning fighters making future comments of a similar nature are likely headed down the same route as the former WEC bantamweight champ.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Rather than hit up the club, Torres goes the economic route this time around, chugging tequila while in a basement bar with a group of friends. The owner of forty MMA victories, Torres has also released videos of getting surgery on his head, cooking lessons, and attempting to succeed at interesting challenges.

Kids, do not try this at home!

Both fights have confirmed the bout via their twitter accounts.

After losing the WEC strap to Brian Bowles in August 2009, Torres has struggled to find consistency in the cage, going 2-2 in his last four bouts. Torres changed up his training after back-to-back losses to Bowles and Joseph Benavidez, fighting a bit more conservative and abandoning his wild and aggressive style. Those changes were apparent in his bouts against Charlie Valencia and Antonio Banuelos, as he used his reach to stifle his shorter opponents and picked up two much-needed victories. He had won 17 straight bouts prior to being KO’d by Bowles. In his most recent bout against Demetrious Johnson at UFC 130, Torres was out-wrestled, controlled, and on the wrong side of a unanimous decision.

Pace can sympathize a bit with Torres as Johnson was the man who handed him his first career loss back in September 2010. He will have no sympathy for the former WEC champion in November though. Coming off a loss to Ivan Menjivar at UFC 133, Pace is in need of a victory in order to avoid losing three of his last four bouts and possibly find himself unemployed. The New York native is most famous for choking out Will Campuzano last December with a choke that has been dubbed “The Pace Choke” by many.

UFC 139 is scheduled for November 19 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. The night will be headlined by former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio Rua taking on Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson. Also on the card will be the UFC debut of Cung Le as he takes on Wanderlei Silva.

*PHOTO CREDIT – UFC*

News of the May 28 match-up was reported on the UFC’s website where it was also mentioned a new opponent for Barao will be named in the coming weeks.

Johnson has emerged with his hands raised the last three times he’s stepped into the ring including an impressive outpointing of Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto in February at UFC 126. He is 8-1 overall with the lone loss, interestingly enough, coming to Pickett a year ago at WEC 48 and wins in WEC over Nick Pace and Damacio Page.

In the 39-3 Torres the 24-year old grappler will likely face the toughest challenge of his career given the mulleted Mixed Martial Artist’s heart, well-rounded skillset, and experience. The former WEC 135-pound champ is coming off back-to-back victories including success against Antonio Banuelos at UFC 126. He also holds wins over Charlie Valencia, Yoshiro Maeda, Takeya Mizugaki, and Chase Beebe.

Other fights scheduled for UFC 130 include Frank Edgar defending his lightweight belt against Gray Maynard in addition to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Matt Hamill and Roy Nelson vs. Frank Mir.

PHOTO CREDIT – ZUFFA

According to Miguel Torres himself by way of Twitter, he was offered an opportunity to fight 20-5 Brad “One Punch” Pickett at UFC 130 and responded in a positive manner to say the least.

“My answer was f*ck yes, thank you, and you’re welcome,” wrote the mulleted Mixed Martial Artist.

Meanwhile, though Pickett was not quite as direct in his reply to the news, he seemed equally interested in the bout, saying through the social networking site, “I was thinking about going to UFC 130 anyway, looks like I best take my gloves now.”

The 39-3 Torres is coming off a dominating decision win over Antonio Banuelos in his Octagon debut last weekend at UFC 126. The victory was Torres’ second in a row since dropping back-to-back bouts against Brian Bowles and Joseph Benavidez.

Comparably, American Top Team’s Pickett has yet to unveil his abilities in front of a UFC crowd with his last action resulting in a unanimous decision over Ivan Menjivar at WEC 53 in December. The win marked the Brit’s tenth in eleven tries.

Keyboard warrrrriors….come out to plaaaay-yay!

Welcome to “Grappling with Issues”, our site’s regular weekly feature highlighting insight and opinion from Adam Tool and myself on six subjects plucked from the Mixed Martial Arts landscape. However, just because we staffers get the fancy set-up, please don’t feel precluded from dishing out your own thoughts on each matter in the comments section at the bottom of the column.

After seeing Urijah Faber’s debut at 135-pounds last week, would you rather see him get an immediate shot at the UFC bantamweight title or involved in a “super-fight” against Miguel Torres?

Tool: I know I’m not alone in craving the Faber/Torres match-up, as it’s been talked about for years. It may have been more appealing back when each man held WEC gold, but I don’t think there could be a better time than now to make this fight. Both fighters are desperate to reclaim gold and a bout between them would give the winner an undisputable claim to top contendership in the bantamweight division. I say that if Torres makes it past Antonio Banuelos in February the UFC should go ahead and do Faber vs. Torres as soon as possible, but I won’t be surprised if they don’t.

Faber is easily the biggest star from the WEC so in that regard I anticipate that he’ll be placed into the top contender spot against the winner of Dominick Cruz and Scott Jorgenson. The first UFC bantamweight champ will undoubtedly be the #1 fighter in the division, and he’ll also be a name that most UFC fans are completely unfamiliar with. The best way to raise the current champ’s profile is to slot him in against a well-known competitor, and Faber fits that bill better than anyone.

Conlan: Similar to Tool, I would also prefer to see the Faber/Torres fight finally come together but instead envision “The California Kid” getting an immediate opportunity to win the bantamweight belt based on his popularity (not to mention how sharp he looked in his divisional debut against Takeya Mizugaki).

However, as I said, the thought of the two WEC icons finally facing off in the cage is a far more appealing prospect in my opinion than another one-win title-shot for Faber. I also think their personalities, well as experience as head-trainers, are perfectly suited for an upcoming season of the Ultimate Fighter. TUF has done an excellent job of building marketable Mixed Martial Artists, and I can’t think of many better ways to introduce fans to a new group of potential 135/145-pound stars to fans who may not necessarily be overly familiar with the weight-classes.

Sixteen of the UFC’s last twenty PPV main-card bouts have gone to decision. Is such a statistic troubling, and, if so, how would you propose the promotion fixes it?

Tool: I don’t think it’s all that troubling, even though as a fan I can’t help but long for more finishes. The fighters that call the UFC home are amongst the best competitors in the world, and as such they’re not the type of guys that will go down easily. In my opinion the rise of decisions speaks more to the toughness of the fighters rather than a problem with the current system. You look at some of the fighters that have lost these recent decisions, guys like Nate Marquardt, Paulo Thiago, Yoshihiro Akiyama, and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and these are fighters that are notoriously difficult to put away. It’s a credit to UFC Matchmaker Joe Silva for creating match-ups that are so evenly matched, because if that wasn’t the case I’m sure we’d see more fighters blowing their over-matched opponents out of the water.

Of course the increase in decisions is also a bit troubling given the current state of MMA judging. We hear the phrase “never let it go the judges” all the time, yet that’s exactly what plenty of fighters are doing. It’s unfortunate that we can’t always rely on judges to make the right decision when they hand in their cards at the end of a fight, and it seems like a simple thing like giving judges monitors could help eliminate this problem sooner than later. Truth be told, I’m not nearly as worried about the number of overall decisions as I am about the number of questionable decisions popping up. I’d be fine with a five-fight card featuring every fight going the distance, just as long as I don’t have to worry about anything before Bruce Buffer reads the scorecards.

Conlan: I don’t know that the statistic is necessarily troubling, but I do think the percentage of decisions over the past few months is a point worth noting. To echo Tool’s statements, with the ever-deepening pool of talent in MMA the sport’s top competitors aren’t always going to be able to finish each other in fifteen, even twenty-five, minutes when throwing down in the ring. Also related to MMA’s evolution, there is too much on the line in terms of money/opportunity to always throw caution to the wind. The number of Chris Leben-like, balls-to-the-wall fighters is going to continually decrease as long the involved stakes remain on the rise. Legitimately, in today’s market, the difference between a win and a loss can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions in the long run.

I think it might be worth comparing results from the past year or two with those of mid-to-late 2010 before worrying too much. However, if decisions are indeed on the rise, especially with the afore-mentioned issues with ringside scoring, it might be worth discussing the potential outcome of increasing the number of involved rounds (five for regular fights, seven for title-bouts). Maybe even adding a fourth/sixth frame with the possibility of a single five-minute “overtime” if necessary at the end of the bout’s allotted time would work.

Regardless, one of Mixed Martial Arts’ most-appealing qualities in comparison to boxing is the number of ways a fight can be finished as opposed to involving a ton of stalling and an outcome where neither involved individual has a mark on his/her face. If you lose the anything-can-happen aspect, and every PPV starts featuring 3-4 decisions, MMA’s reputation will take a hit it can ill afford.

What percentage of likelihood would you assign to the possibility of B.J. Penn retiring from MMA if he loses decisively to Matt Hughes this weekend?

Tool: I’d put it at around 5%. Penn’s mindset is an impossibly difficult thing to predict, and the man has hinted at retirement on more than one occasion. While Penn has spoken about retirement in the past, he’s talked more frequently about wanting to be one of the best fighters of all time. While his career accomplishments will certainly put him in that category, I don’t think that he’s ready to be done just yet. Someone that wants to be one of the best of all time would probably not be satisfied with ending his career on three straight losses. There are plenty of interesting match-ups left to be made for Penn in both the lightweight and welterweight divisions, so unless he thinks his best days are behind him I don’t believe we’ll see the end of Penn’s UFC career this weekend.

Conlan: I’ll go with 1%. However, if Penn hadn’t come out recently and said he’s interested in a return to lightweight, as well as more fights at 170-pounds, I’d give it a much higher percentage.

He’s hard to predict and he certainly doesn’t have to fight anymore from a financial perspective. If he falls to Hughes it will be a massive blow to his ego, as well as the first three-fight losing streak of his career. Penn is a prideful person, and dropping bouts to a 37-year old who himself has hinted at hanging his gloves up in the not-too-distant future, as well as someone who might be even better as a featherweight (Frank Edgar), isn’t exactly the stuff confidence is built of. Again, because he’s expressed a desire to continue competing beyond this weekend I don’t think it’s likely he’ll retire with a loss, but if the former double-divisional champ had been more ambiguous on the subject of his in-ring prospects in 2011 I think the possibility of permanently heading back to Hilo would be far more distinct.

Which UFC 123 competitor do you think will fight for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship sooner: “Rampage” Jackson or Phil Davis?

Conlan: At first glance I asked myself, “Is this a serious question?” Then, after giving it a little more thought, I realized the inherent brilliance involved. The obvious answer is clearly “Rampage”, yet he’s facing an exceptional opponent at the event and has also hinted at prematurely retiring from MMA to focus on his acting career. On the other hand, Davis has an opportunity to 4-0 inside the Octagon against a tough adversary in the form of Tim Boetsch while also maintaining his unblemished record after eight professional fights.

However, regardless of their respective match-ups at UFC 123, or records and statuses after this weekend, I think Jackson is more likely to get a shot at the UFC’s 205-pound crown before Davis based purely on name value and past accomplishments in the sport. Even if “Mr. Wonderful” beats Boetsch he still won’t possess a win over a “Top 10” opponent while “Rampage” has beaten, or been highly competitive against, a number of top-ranked fighters. He’s also extremely marketable whereas Davis can likely still walk down a street in Los Angeles without getting approached by anyone who recognizes him. Jackson can go 3-1 over his next four fights and get a title shot whereas the same luxury won’t be afforded to the former Penn State All-American wrestler.

The only way Davis gets a crack at the belt before Jackson is if “Rampage” hangs his gloves up for good and I think he loves fighting too much to retire and risk finding himself wondering “what if” at 40-45 after a middle-of-the-road run in Hollywood.

Tool: I’m not sure if that’s the only way Davis gets a shot at the belt before Jackson. We do need to consider the possibility (sad as it may be) that Jackson is on the decline as far as his skills in the cage go. After all it’s entirely possible that “Rampage” won’t win against a quality opponent ever again. I don’t think it’s very likely, but it’s certainly possible. He didn’t get completely blown out by Rashad Evans but he didn’t exactly look competitive for the majority of that fight. I’m willing to give him some leeway due to the long layoff he experienced heading into that fight, and his performance this weekend should give us a much better idea of which direction his career is heading. Obviously Jackson’s name value gives him an edge in terms of where he stands in the division, and Brendhan’s right in his estimate that it won’t take more than a few solid wins to get “Rampage” back into the title picture.

As far as Davis goes, I’m fairly certain that this weekend’s match-up is designed to showcase his talents to a wider audience. Given the pattern the UFC has shown in bringing along their other prospects I’d be willing to bet that we’re still at least two years away from Davis entering the mix of contenders. That being said, it could certainly be a much quicker process if Davis gets the right kind of wins against the right kind of opponents. The upper level of the light heavyweight division isn’t as stacked as it used to be, and with several fighters on their way down the ladder now is the perfect time for a few new faces to rise up. Obviously guys like Jon Jones and Ryan Bader are pretty much there already, but there’s still plenty of room. I imagine that we’ll be seeing much more of Davis after this weekend and if the fans get behind him in a big way we could see him knocking on the door of contendership sooner than expected.

BUY/SELL – George Sotiropoulos should become the #1 contender in the lightweight division if he beats Joe Lauzon this weekend.

Conlan: “BUY”, though he won’t be next in line for a title-shot since, according to Dana White, the winner emerging from WEC lightweight champ Ben Henderson’s upcoming title-defense against Anthony Pettis is already entrenched as being next in line for a chance at competing for the UFC’s lightweight belt.

However, this is a “BUY” for me because the operative word in the question is “should”. In beating Lauzon (if he does), Joe Stevenson, and Kurt Pellegrino – not to mention the other four opponents he’s consecutively defeated in the Octagon – Sotiropoulos has accomplished more on a bigger stage against a higher-quality of opponent than both Pettis/Henderson and should get his due.

That being said, I don’t disagree with the logic behind the UFC’s decision to promote a unification bout, as MMA is a business after all. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m obligated to feel the most-deserving person is going to face Gray Maynard/Edgar if the Aussie is able to get by Lauzon at UFC 123, something that’s far from guaranteed by the way.

Tool: I’ve got to go with “buy” as well, and the only other guy I’d want to slot into the top contenders spot would be Evan Dunham. If Dunham gets past Kenny Florian in January I expect we may see these two matched up to determine the next top contender while we wait for the UFC & WEC titles to be merged. I’m still not sold on the idea of the WEC champion being the #1 contender right away, but at this point it’s useless to try and argue against the idea. Sotiropoulos is one of the hottest fighters in the lightweight division so here’s hoping he gets his shot sooner than later. Obviously he needs to get past Lauzon first, but unless the Aussie brings a terrible gameplan into the cage this weekend I think it’s safe to say that he’ll maintain his undefeated record inside the octagon.

Whose performance at UFC 122 impressed you the most?

Conlan: Alessio Sakara’s stomach bug for helping free up Jorge Rivera to fight Michael Bisping while also opening the main card up for a fun fight between Duane Ludwig and Nick Osipczak?

But seriously, though I always appreciate the effort and athleticism exhibited by Mixed Martial Artists, I wasn’t close to “impressed” with anything I saw at the event other than perhaps the German crowd’s passion for the sport and their countrymen competing in the cage.

Ludwig and Osipczak both looked good, as did Krzysztof Soszynski, Dennis Siver, and Amir Sadollah, but none of them made me feel as though they’ll be divisional threats at any point in the foreseeable future. I didn’t see anything from Yushin Okami giving me confidence in his ability to beat Anderson Silva (or Vitor Belfort for that matter) and I think Nate Marquardt would have won that very same fight five-out-of-ten times if it was replayed for a separate judging panels. Overall, it was a ho-hum event for me as it seems to have been for most who took in the show, and I it would be dishonest of me to act as though I was blown away by anything I saw last weekend.

Tool: UFC 122 was an utterly forgettable event, but there were a few bright spots to be had during the show. I was impressed with Karlos Vemola, but I’m not ready to jump on that bandwagon until I see how his cardio holds up in a fight that’s longer than 5 minutes. I always enjoy seeing the continuous improvement of Amir Sadollah, but Brendhan’s right when he says that the TUF 7 champ isn’t likely to threaten for the welterweight title anytime soon. I also have to tip my hat to Vladimir Matyushenko, as “The Janitor” picked up a much-needed stoppage victory to keep his UFC career alive.

I suppose I need to give the nod to Siver though, as he’s now won six of his last seven fights. The names under his win column aren’t enough to put him into talk of title contention, but his habit of finishing fights in exciting fashion is bound to keep him on the UFC main cards for the foreseeable future. He’s a tough draw for anybody in the lightweight division and I imagine we’ll see him in the cage against a much tougher opponent for his next fight.

News of the rumored match-up was first reported by HeavyMMA.

Torres and Banuelos are each coming of victorious outings in what will ultimately be their final appearances for WEC, both of which came at WEC 51 this past September. Torres was able to submit Charlie Valencia a little more than halfway through their bout, while the 18-6 Banuelos was able to outpoint Chad George on all three judges’ scorecards and earn his fourth win in five fights.

In addition to what will no doubt be an energetic scrap featuring the well-rounded 135-pounders, UFC 126 is also rumored to involve Anderson Silva defending his middleweight title against Vitor Belfort, Forrest Griffin fighting Rich Franklin, and a collision between two of MMA’s brightest 205-pound prospects, Jon Jones and Ryan Bader.

Nate Diaz Addresses Steroids as Only He Can (WatchKalibRun.com)

Kyra Gracie Goes Sans Gi for Magazine Cover (MiddleEasy.com)

Frank Edgar vs. Gray Maynard II Looking Likely for UFC 125 (Heavy.com)

Cooking with Miguel Torres? You Bet! (Versus.com)

M-1 Global Announces Upcoming Scheduled of Title Fights (FIGHT! Magazine)

WEC Contender Anthony Pettis Makes his MTV Debut (MMAScraps.com)

News on Joachim Hansen’s Next Fight (CagePotato.com)

Vitor Belfort Could Be Facing Anderson Silva on Superbowl Weekend (MMAConvert.com)

K-1 World Grand Prix Fighters Gather in Seoul (MMAFighting.com)

Headliners Manny Gamburyan and WEC featherweight champ Jose Aldo measured in without incident. In fact, both men weighed 145-pounds on the dot. Aldo will put his title on the line for the second time in his career during the main event, the first defense being a dominating decision win over Urijah Faber at WEC 48 last April.

While their weigh-in may have gone off without a hitch, the same could not be said for a number of the other match-ups including that featuring former 135-pound champion Miguel Torres. Torres came in slightly heavy for his bout against Charlie Valencia but was eventually able to make the 136 pound limit after stripping down.

Also notable were lightweight rivals Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone for going head-to-head during the proceedings…literally. The two, who came in at 156 and 155.5 pounds respectively, had to be separated by WEC officials after aggressively pressing their foreheads together throughout their pairing’s standard stare-down.

WEC 51 will be broadcast on the Versus Network starting at 9:00 PM EST. In addition to the above fights, the event also features George Roop facing Chan Sung Jung, aka “The Korean Zombie”, and Leonard Garcia testing his stand-up against well-rounded veteran Mark Hominick.

Here is a complete rundown of WEC 51 weigh-in results:

Nick Pace (135 lbs) vs. Demetrious Johnson (135 lbs)
Chad George (135 lbs) vs. Antonio Banuelos (136 lbs)
Diego Nunes (145 lbs) vs. Tyler Toner (145 lbs)
Cole Province (146 lbs) vs. Mike Brown (145 lbs)
Pablo Garza (154 lbs) vs. Tiequan Zhang (154 lbs)
Ed Ratcliff (155 lbs) vs. Chris Horodecki (155 lbs)
Mark Hominick (145 lbs) vs. Leonard Garcia (146 lbs)
George Roop (145 lbs) vs. Chan Sung Jung (146 lbs)
Charlie Valencia (136 lbs) vs. Miguel Torres (136 lbs)
Donald Cerrone (155.5 lbs) vs. Jamie Varner (156 lbs)
Manny Gamburyan (145 lbs) vs. Jose Aldo (145 lbs)

Good for Brian, because the man he is set to butt heads with this Sunday evening in Las Vegas at WEC 42 is widely regarded to be one of the very best pound for pound fighters walking the planet in Miguel Torres. But hey, according to Bowles there’s no pressure on his side of things. He’s not expected to win. Things can only get better.

“I’ve always done well as the underdog,” admitted Bowles. “I’ve always been the underdog in the WEC. It seems like every fight I’ve fought in the WEC I’ve been picked as the underdog, and I haven’t lost yet. Another thing about being the underdog is that there’s really not that much pressure on because if I lose, you’re supposed to beat me. Of course if I beat him I surprise everybody, so it kind of takes a lot of the pressure off.”

The native of Athens, Georgia doesn’t feel too bad about not being favored to win. It’s Miguel Torres we’re talking about here. The man is as close to a super-hero as it gets in this world. The Carlson Gracie Jr. black belt has lost just once in a career spanning close to forty fights (a decision loss he avenged by first round armbar), and hasn’t dropped a single bout in his last seventeen bouts spanning well over five years against the toughest competition possible.

That’s okay with Bowles, underdog or not Torres has never faced anyone as dangerous as him, and there’s not a man alive that’s immune to mortality.

“I think everyone he has face has been looked over,” explained Bowles. “He’s been a really dominant champion but he has never faced anyone like me yet. I think I’m his biggest threat so far. I’m the guy that has fought my way up to him. Most of the guys, like Mizugaki just came right in and got the shot. I think people are going to be really surprised. I think a lot of those other guys have put up really good showings against him. I mean Yoshiro Maeda and Takeya Mizugaki both fought him really well. I think I’m going to surprise people. It’s definitely going to be a good showing either way.”

Bowles is coming into the cage on Sunday night to inflict pain and leave with a championship belt. There’s two ways about it. Just don’t expect anything but respect from Brian in regards to the current WEC bantamweight champion.

“Miguel is really well rounded and he brings his fight to the opponent,” said the Hardcore Gym trained brawler. “He’s defended the belt well. He makes no excuses, he just performs.

“He’s been a really great champion. I’m just glad that I have the opportunity to beat him. I think I can take that role as the best 135 pound fighter that he has. It’s the second best guy against the number one guy, I think it’s going to be a really big fight for the WEC. I don’t think they have that a lot.”

Of course all of that respect goes flying out the window once that cage door slams. Don’t confuse Bowles’ respect for fear; he’s going to bring it to Torres, leave nothing in the cage, and make no excuses afterwords.

“You can’t be intimidated by him,” said Bowles. “He’s going to go out there and bring the fight to you, and you just have to do the same to him. You just can’t be afraid of him.”

First off, anyone that has seen Bowles fight will freely admit that the he carries the type of dynamite in his fists that is seldom seen from men weighing under 150 pounds. Quite frankly, if Bowles clips you it’s going to be a problem. Torres is no exception to the rule.

“I think my punching power is something that has just come natural to me,” explained Bowles. “I’ve always enjoyed the stand-up. It’s not something that I’ve really worked on. It’s just something that has come to me naturally.

“Here lately, the hardest hitter I’ve seen him go up against was Takeya Mizugaki. Other than that I haven’t really seen he’s been in there with that hits like I do.”

You’re not going to beat a champion like Torres with heavy hands alone; Something Brian is well aware of going into WEC 42. He’s far from a one-trick pony in this fight game.

“I think my wrestling is going to allow me to dictate where the fight ends up,” revealed Bowles. “I definitely don’t see him shooting on me and taking me down. I think the wrestling will definitely play to my advantage, but I think the overall skills, and the fact that I’m really well-rounded is going to give him some problems.”

Not once has Bowles been pushed to the scorecards in his professional fighting career. So one way or another this one ends early, right? Not so fast. According to the anxious title challenger anything could happen in what promises to be a wild fight, and he’s prepared for anything.

“It’s a good possibility I’ll go the distance for the first time,” confessed Bowles. “He’s been in some decisions. This is going to be my toughest challenge so far so maybe I’ll make it to a decision with him. There’s really no telling where this fight could go. It could be a knockout or a submission, you just can’t really tell exactly how this fight is going to turn out. I’m ready to do whatever it takes.”

The news of the bout was made public today in a report by MMAJunkie.com.

The two fighters were originally set to meet at WEC 40 before Bowles was forced to pull out of the fight with a back injury.

Bowles comes into this title fight with seven consecutive wins, including four in the WEC, with all four wins coming by way of stoppage. He most recently fought at WEC 37 in January 2008, where he defeated Will Ribeiro via third-round submission.

Torres most recently defeated Takeya Mizugaki via unanimous decision in April, in an action packed five-round fight. Mizugaki was Bowles replacement at WEC 40. It was Torres’ seventeenth consecutive victory and the WEC bantamweight champion currently sits at No. 6 in Five Ounces on Pain’s pound-for-pound rankings.

WEC 42 will take place at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

“I can’t fight forever,” Torres told Helwani. “I can dominate 135 for the rest of my career and be comfortable, or I can test myself and be out of my comfort zone and try to make more money. I think fighting at a higher weight class, there will be bigger purses, bigger paydays and more high-profile fights. So, I am looking to do that in the future.”

Moving directly from 135 to 155 might be confounding to some, but the 28-year old Torres indicated that such a jump could be dictated by economic factors.

“To go to 145, I wouldn’t get a huge bump (in pay),” Torres is quoted. “But if I were to go to 155 and get a three-fight deal (in the UFC), I am sure I could get a huge increase in pay. And then (I can) always come down to 135 or 145.”

Torres is also quoted as telling Helwani that he believes the future of the WEC’s bantamweight division looks bright and that it could be another two or three years before he considers moving up.

Torres, 35-1, is 4-0 since entering the WEC with notable wins over Jeff Bedard, Chase Beebe, Yoshiro Maeda, and Manny Tapia. Currently on a 16-fight win streak, he is slated to defend his 135 pound title vs. Takeya Mizugaki at WEC 40 at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Ill. on April 5.

The news was first reported by MMAjunkie.com.

Torres is 35-1 and is the number one ranked bantamweight, according to the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts. The 29-year old East Chicago native last competed at WEC 37 in December, where he successfully defended his title vs. Manny Tapia after TKO’ing him at 3:04 of round 2.

Torres is 4-0 lifetime while competing under the WEC banner and has defeated Chase Beebe, Jeff Bedard, and Yoshiro Maeda in addition to Tapia. Outside of the WEC, Torres holds notable victories over Charles Wilson, Bobby Gamboa, and Joe Pearson.

Bowles trains out of the Hardcore Gym in Atlanta, Georgia and is a perfect 7-0 in a pro MMA career that began in 2006. After going 3-0 on the regional circuit, Bowles was picked up by the WEC and submitted Charlie Valencia at 2:50 of round 2 during his debut for the promotion at WEC 28 on June 3, 2007. Since defeating Valencia, Bowles has added wins over Marcos Galvao, Will Ribeiro, and Damacio Page to his resume.

In addition to Bowles vs. Torres, MMA Junkie is reporting that a co-main event on the show is expected to be added featuring Jeff Curran taking on Joseph Benavidez to determine a new number one contender for the bantamweight title.

The victory improved Torres’ documented record to 35-1 and his record under the World Extreme Cagefighting banner to 4-0.

Torres, an Indiana native who once trained under the late Carlson Gracie in Chicago, improved to 2-0 while wearing the WEC’s 135 pound title after rocking Tapia multiple times before forcing the referee to call a stop to the bout at 3:04 of round 2.

The loss marked the first of Tapia’s career, with his record falling to 10-1-1. Considered to be one of the larger bantamweight fighters in the WEC, Tapia was still dwarfed by Torres during the fight’s obligatory pre-fight staredown.

During the tension-filled staredown, neither Torres or Tapia extended a hand to one another and the two avoided the customary “hand slap” that precedes the beginning of the first round in most MMA fights. The angst directed by Torres towards Tapia could be in response to Tapia labeling Torres as “overrated” earlier in the week.

Once the fight commenced, Torres’ reach advantage caused matchup problems for Tapia, who could not engage with Torres without being peppered by a strong left jab. The reach disadvantage prompted Tapia to remain out of Torres’ range for the most. When he did attempt to close the distance, Tapia attempted to land a right cross that never reached its intended destination.

Tapia refrained from trying to change the terms of the fight with an attempt to take Torres off his foot, instead opting to steer clear of the black belt’s renowned submission skills.

Torres’ emegerence from a well-respected regional fighter to nationally known fighter that is now recognized as one of the pound-for-pound best in the sport has created a void in the WEC, which now is lacking an obvious number one contender.

Making a case for a future title shot on the undercard was Brian Bowles of the Hardcore Gym in Atlanta, Georgia. Bowles improved to 7-0 following a third round submission over Will Ribeiro, who had entered the fight with an impressive 10-1 record.

In defeat, Ribeiro made a positive impression in his first major televised bout. A former member of the Brazilian Olympic boxing team, Ribeiro showed dynamic striking ability and a willingess to take risks in an attempt to knock Bowles out.

Despite Ribeiro’s striking prowess, Bowles also showed a willingness to stand and trade while displaying effective combination striking. He was eventually able to finish the native Brazilian with a guillotine submission at 1:11 of round 3.

In addition to wins by Torres and Bowles, the 10-bout card that emanated from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas also featured victories by several newcomers to the WEC roster.

Former IFL featherweight champion Wagnney Fabiano engaged in a war of attrition for position while locked in guard against fellow debuting top ten featherweight Akitoshi Tamura. Tamura spent most of the fight on his back and showed limited offensive ability from the position, yet displayed impressive defensive skills. The Japanese fighter was able to limit the amount of damage inflicted by Fabiano, who had achieved full mount at one point.

Tamura was only able to withstand Fabiano’s smothering for so long, as submitted to a arm triangle choke with just 12 seconds remaining in the fight.

Bantamweight Joseph Benavidez, who was coming off a first round submission over Junya Kudo at DREAM 5 in a bout that was nationally televised in Japan, made his WEC debut a successful one after recording a unanimous decision victory over Danny Martinez.

A protege of former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber, Benavidez out-classed the rugged Martinez while improving his record to 9-0.

Lightweight Bart Palaszewski, another former refugee of the IFL, TKO’d Alex Karalexis, a veteran from the first season of Spike TV’s “Ultimate Fighter” reality show, at 1:11 of round 2.

The show also featured the debut of former multi-time NCAA amateur wrestling champion Johny Hendricks, who improved to 4-0 following a second round TKO over Justin Haskins in a welterweight encounter.

Mark Munoz, another former NCAA champion, improved to 5-0 with a first round TKO over Ricardo Barros. The victory marked the light heavyweight’s final fight in the WEC, as the promotion is closing its middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. Munoz’s next fight will come in the UFC’s Octagon.

Cub Swanson also made a triumphant to the WEC after his last fight for the promotion ended when he submitted to Jens Pulver just 35 seconds into their heated bout at WEC 31. Facing highly-regarded Hiroyuki Takaya, Swanson catapulted himself back towards the top of the featherweight division with a unanimous decision victory.

With Urijah Faber having lost his WEC featherweight title to Mike Thomas Brown at WEC 36 in early November, one could make the case that Torres is now the promotion’s top dog. But whether Torres can be a box office draw remains to be seen, as even Faber only managed to draw a 0.5 rating last month.

But Torres won’t have to carry Wednesday’s show alone, as he will be flanked by an impressive undercard that will feature top bantamweight prospects Will Ribeiro and Brian Bowles; world class featherweight newcomers Wagnney Fabiano and Akitoshi Tamura; and the WEC debut of Urijah Faber protege Joseph Benavidez.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com has a complete preview of the four bouts scheduled to make the VERSUS telecast on Wednesday.

Miguel Torres vs. Manny Tapia for Torres’ WEC bantamweight title - Torres, owner of one of the most impressive records in MMA at 34-1, is finally getting a great deal of press and is being positioned as the WEC’s number two star behind former featherweight champion Urijah Faber.

The Chicago native was recently featured on the cover of FIGHT! magazine and the added exposure has caused some to speculate that the attention might be going to his head. However, the reality is that Torres holed himself up for his most recent camp in order to shut out all outside distractions, most notably Jeff Curran’s recent calls to begin to promote a future showdown between the two.

Curran is dropping to bantamweight for his next WEC fight and has aspirations to challenge for the 135 pound title sooner rather than later. However, Torres must get past Tapia first.

Tapia, undefeated at 10-0-1, had been scheduled to challenge Torres for the bantamweight title at WEC 34 on June 1 but had to pull off the show due to injury and was replaced by Yoshiro Maeda. However, Tapia wasn’t heading into the fight with a great deal of momentum following a disappointing showing in his last fight against Antonio Banuelos at WEC 32 this past February.

Tapia was declared the winner via split decision but the outcome caused a great deal of controversy, as Banuelos was originally announced as the winner to the crowd but an error in reading the scorecards was later realized and Tapia was named the winner.

As good as Tapia is, he might be outgunned. At 5’8”, Torres is freakishly tall for the bantamweight division. Torres’ height alone make him tough to gameplan for, but his outstanding groud game and standup skills makes him almost impossible to prepare for.

While he was only just recently promoted to black belt, Torres’ jiu-jitsu has been black belt level for several years now. Tapia is no slouch on the ground, but it’s an area where he doesn’t want to test Torres. The problem is, Torres’ striking has really improved over the course of the last 2 /12 years and standing and trading with him could prove to be a losing proposition for Tapia as well.

If Tapia pushes the fight and stays in Torres’ face for five rounds, perhaps we could see an upset. But I don’t see that being the case and I see Torres being able to finish Tapia in the third round via TKO.

Brian Bowles vs. Will Ribeiro - Brian Bowles and Will Ribeiro are prime examples of why the WEC is doing away with its light heavyweight and middleweight divisions. In events prior, there likely would have not been enough room to get this fight on the air, which would have been a crime because it has the potential to contend for “Fight of the Night” honors. Furthermore, it’s paramount that the WEC begin to build fighters such as Bowles and Ribeiro up more because the winner of this fight could be challenging for the bantamweight title in short order.

Training out of former UFC fighter Rory Singer’s Hardcore Gym in Atlanta, Bowles is an impressive prospect with a 6-0 record. In three fights under the WEC banner, Bowles has won all three in two rounds or less.

Making his WEC debut against Charlie Valencia at WEC 28 in June of 2007, Bowles submitted the hard nosed veteran with a rear naked choke at 2:50 of round 2. He returned in December of the same year, knocking out Marco Galvao at 2:09 of round 2 during the undercard of the same show that featured Urijah Faber defending his title against Jeff Curran.

However, it was Bowles’ win first round submission over the Greg Jackson-trained Damacio Page at WEC 35 this past August that finally garnered him some press. That being said, Bowles is still vastly underrated and is in dire need of the television exposure that Wednesday’s show will provide.

But Ribeiro is in the same boat, because despite an impressive 10-1 record, only the hardest of hardcores know about him. The native Brazilian earned a spot in the WEC following a first round knockout over Andre Lobo during a Shooto event in Brazil.

The win over Lobo was then proceded by his WEC debut at WEC 34 this past June against former WEC bantamweight champion Chase Beebe. Beebe, who represented Ribeiro’s toughest competition to date, would go on to lose via unanimous decision in a mild upset.

Despite his strong record, there are still questions about whether Ribeiro is truly ready to contend for the WEC 135 pound title. Most of his early wins were built up against inferior competition and his only victories over quality competition were against Beebe and William Vianna.

Beebe might be more experienced than Bowles, but Bowles still represents the greatest challenge of Ribeiro’s career. The uncertainty over Ribeiro’s degree of readiness for the spotlight makes the pick of Bowles via unanimous decision an easy one.

Wagnney Fabiano vs. Akitoshi Tamura - The WEC continues to expand its roster of talent and this bout will feature not just one, but two, top ten-caliber featherweight newcomers.

Leonard Garcia is expected to get the first crack at Mike Thomas Brown’s featherweight title but the winner of this fight could move themselves into a position where they are one to two wins away from from a shot at the 145 pound belt.

Fabiano is a former IFL featherweight champion who originally began competing for the promotion as a lightweight. The native Brazilian performed quite well as a lightweight, compiling a 4-0 record before moving down in weight. However, once he made the move, Fabiano began to earn recognition as a world class fighter.

Known for his tremendous submission game, Fabiano is an underrated wrestler. His slick jiu-jitsu coupled with his ability to control position makes him a very dangerous fighter. Making him even more lethal is are his improving standup skills. In his first IFL featherweight title defense this past April at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., Fabiano needed just one punch to knock out Shad Lierley 37 seconds in their fight.

Fabiano was favored but the quick finish was still surprising because while competing at 155 the year prior, Lierley took Chris Horodecki the distance in what will go down as one of the greatest fighters in IFL history. Already considered a top ten featherweight in most major polls, Fabiano will be a consensus top five pick if his standup continues to evolve.

Tamura is a veteran of Shooto, a Japan-based promotion that essentially the Far East equivilient to the WEC in that it features lighter weight fighters. At 12-6-2, Tamura’s record may not be the overly impressive but he’s ranked as a top ten featherweight because he’s surged over the course of the past two years.

In his last six fights, Tamura is 5-1 with his only loss coming via split decision to Hideki Kadowaki, another highly-ranked featherweight. His most recent victory was on May 3 against Rumina Sato, a lighterweight pioneer who might have been a little before his time. The year prior, Tamura avenged a previous loss to Takeshi Inoue, another fighter considered to be one of the best in the world at 145.

Tamura will be able to hang with Fabiano on the ground and may even be more versatile when it comes to the standup, however, the concern here is that Tamura is not a finisher. If it the fight goes the distance, which I believe it will, Fabiano will hold the advantage.

Joseph Benavidez vs. Danny Martinez - Benavidez is a top bantamweight prospect who will be making his WEC debut. He’s been flying under the radar for quite some time now but garnered some press after submitting Junya Kudo with a guillotine choke at DREAM 5 this past July.

Benavidez was originally scheduled to face Kid Yamamoto in that matchup, with DREAM promoters looking to capitalize on Benavidez’s affiliation with former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber. Benavidez trains out of Faber’s “Ultimate Fitness” gym in Sacramento and the idea was to play up a future dream match between Faber and Yamamoto.

Much like Faber, Benavidez is a good wrestler with a slick submission game. Undefeated at 8-0, he’s a tremendous addition for the WEC’s bantamweight division and is future championship material. However, he’s not being given a tomato can in his debut.

Martinez is 12-2 and trains out of Southwest MMA in Tempe, Arizona. Thus far, Martinez has made his bones on the Arizona regional scene competing for promotions such as Rage in the Cage and Total Combat.

TKO promoter Stephane Patry brought Martinez out to lose to Mark “The Machine” Hominick at TKO 31 in Decemember of 2007. Despite fighting a class up in weight, Martinez hung tough and took Hominick the distance, losing a unanimous decision.

Seeing Martinez win here wouldn’t be a surprise, as he might be better as far as standup. However, Benavidez has an advantage on the ground and I believe he’ll end up winning a unanimous decision.

During a recent C3 Full Contact Fighting event in which Curran was inducted into the promotion’s Hall of Fame, the former featherweight-turned-bantamweight competitor responded to a question about what his goals were for the upcoming year by indicating that he wanted to win the WEC 135 pound title currently held by Miguel Torres.

With several thousand fans on hand to witness the comments in Torres’ hometown of Hammond, Indiana, some took them out of context and began to claim that Curran “called Torres out” during posts on the legendary Underground forum at MixedMartialArts.com.

The thread exploded when Curran responded to comments in which some fans expressed that they believed Curran’s comments were disrespectful and that he wasn’t “in the same league” as the incumbent champ.

Curran, one of the greatest lighter weight fighters to ever compete in MMA, took great offense to some of the remarks made.

“WOW! That’s all I can say,” an agitated Curran responded. “Suddenly Miguel Torres is God.”

“I lose one fight in 60 by a submission to Urijah Faber and I suddenly don’t transfer my BJJ to MMA as good as Torres?,” Curran continued. “That’s just ridiculous.”

Clearly feeling slighted after not being compared favorably to Torres, Curran decided to introduce some statistical information to the debate in response to his critics.

“MIguel is slick as hell, I am the first to admit,” said Curran. “I am personally a fan of his as he has claimed to be of mine. But, here are a few quick facts to ease your troubled little minds: Miguel has fought some good guys, yes, but the majority of his fight record consists of fighters that haven’t been very active overall. Meaning they are not currently fighting.

“Here are some simple numbers: my 42 total opponents total a win/loss/draw record of 479-269-25 (773 total fights). MIguel Torres has fought guys totaling a record of 204-159-7 combined record (370 total fights) out of his 35 total fights. So on an average I have seven more fights than him yet my opposition has a total of 403 more total fights.”

FiveOuncesOfPain.com contacted Curran in response to the forum post and while he has nothing personal against Torres, he made it clear that he feels some of Torres’ supporters are overlooking his credentials.

“I think I have plenty of respect. I just think that when someone doesn’t respect you, it shows up more than when people do,” he began to tell us during an exclusive interview conducted by phone. “My fans and my students and my family, they don’t go on the Underground and I’ve got a few guys that try and keep up with stuff that are backing me, but for the most part I’ve got better things to do than have all my friends go on and hype me up. There are just times in which I wish I had some people to go on there and speak on my behalf so that I wouldn’t have too.”

However, as we continued to speak with Curran, he still wanted to stress that he has a resume that is every bit as strong as Torres’ — and perhaps stronger.

“…The bottom line is that he fought a lot of guys in the bulk of his career that never really continued on to be fighters and never were really fighters in the first place,” he said. “He’s beat some good guys and he’s good, but let’s not think that he’s out of my league. If anybody thinks he’s out of my league, they are out of their mind. When he was fighting guys who were 0-2, I was in the UFC fighting Matt Serra on nine days notice even though he completely outweighed me. He couldn’t finish me off, he couldn’t submit me, and he couldn’t overpower me. And that was when my game was half of what it is now…”

While Curran indicated that both he and Torres are friends, it appears that his decision to move from featherweight to bantamweight has put a great deal of stress on the friendship.

“I talked to Miguel right after I had fought Mike Brown,” Curran began to explain. “Me and Miguel had a conversation and I said, ‘Hey, there’s a good chance now that I’m moving to the division that we’re going to end up fighting and I think it’s in our best interest to do it professionally and do it right and make sure everybody knows about it.’ And he said ‘Oh yeah, I’m all behind it.’

“I told him we could hype it up. It’s not like we’ve got to go out and trash talk each other… He was in agreement with me and it started to approach the end of the year and we saw Mike Brown beat Urijah Faber and it got my wheels turning… I sent him a text and said ‘Once you go through Tapia, you should give me a call and we’ll do this up and get something going…

“His assistant called me and said that he was training for a fight and that he would call me as soon as he got back from out of town… Then a week later his agent called my agent and started bitching about me calling and bothering Miguel and stuff and that Miguel is too good to fight me. I sort of got thinking that maybe all of this fame has gotten to Miguel’s head and that he doesn’t remember he doesn’t have as good of a shot of beating me as he thinks.”

While Curran isn’t sure when the seemingly inevitable showdown with Torres will take place, he did reveal to Five Ounces of Pain that he expects his WEC debut at bantamweight to take place on Jan. 25 in San Diego at WEC 38.

“Vaguely, in the beginning (the WEC) said they wanted to put me and Torres together but they never said whether they wanted me to win one fight or two. They never give that description,” Curran answered when asked about a timetable for a possible Torres fight, before continuing by saying, “But I am discussing fighting whoever they give me for the Jan. 25 WEC and I don’t know who that would be, but I don’t mind fighting once (before fighting Torres).”

It was a unique experience for me because the Riviera “events center” is essentially a ballroom. I’ve seen MMA in half cages in small rooms in the inner city and at community centers, but there’s nothing like seeing a circle cage in the middle of a ball room.

The results are as follows:

- Buddy Roberts def. Dennis Bacon at 1:06 in round 1 via rear naked choke in a heavyweight fight. Roberts trains at the Lion’s Den with Ken Shamrock. Roberts’ showing was very underwhelming. Roberts got his back early and flattened him out and that was it.

- Ryan Bader defeated Brad Peterson via unanimous decision. Both guys showed each other a lot of respect and there wasn’t a lot of aggression shown during the fight. Bader wins the award for best walk-in music of the night (a cool remix of “March of the Empire).

- Jeff Cox defeated Joe Cronin via TKO at 0:55 of round 3. The official result was announced as a TKO but it sure looked like a KO to me. The fight was slow much of the day but Cox finished big with a sick looking knockout. Cronin had a lot of supporters there and a lot of them tried to rush into the cage to check on him because they were so concerned. I mean, it was a brutal knockout.

- Dennis Davis defeated Reynaldo Duarte via unanimous decision. This was an interesting matchup because Davis trains out of Xtreme Couture and Duarte trains out of ATT. Davis apologized to the fans after the fight for not being more aggressive but said he wanted to be cautious of Duarte’s submission skills. Duarte entered the ring in a Gi and a black belt but the crowd didn’t really get to see his jiu-jitsu in action on this night.

- Eleina Reid defeated Tammie Schneider via TKO at 2:05 of round 2. Reid is a former pro boxer that’s training out of Xtreme Couture. Apparently there weren’t many opportunities for her left in boxing but things have picked up for her since crossing over to MMA. This was her debut and she received a strong reaction from the crowd. Reid hit Schneider with a big knee against the cage and it was all downhill from there. Both ladies weighed-in at 115 lbs. for this fight. It was the first female flyweight fight I had ever seen. Schneider did not look anywhere near ready for prime-time but I was still impressed with Reid. If any of the major promotions start a female flyweight division, Reid will be a player.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REMAINDER OF THE ARTICLE ON SAM CAPLAN’S PROELITE.COM BLOG