World Extreme Cagefighters tipped the scales today for the official WEC 37: “Torres vs. Tapia” weigh-in event at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unlike the Filho disaster at the WEC 38 weigh-ins, everyone made weight this afternoon without incident.
Today’s event marks the last of the formalities leading up to tomorrow’s highly anticipated year end show for the promotion.
WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres (34-1) will defend his title against the undefeated ground technician Manny Tapia (10-0-1) in the main event of the night. For the champ, this will be his second title defense since capturing the gold back in February with a first round submission win over Chase Beebe.
Torres is one of the biggest stars in the WEC right now and any event involving him should be considered a a must-watch.
WEC 37 will also be the last event for the promotion in which they feature any fights above and including the middleweight division. The light heavyweight match between Mark Munoz and Ricardo Barros is the only fight on the card from one of the three weight classes being dismissed.
Without further delay, here are the official WEC 37 weigh-in results:
135 lbs.: Miguel Torres (134) vs. Manny Tapia (134)
135 lbs.: Brian Bowles (135) vs. Will Ribeiro (136)
145 lbs.: Akitoshi Tamura (145) vs. Wagnney Fabiano (146)
135 lbs.: Joseph Benavidez (135) vs. Danny Martinez (136)
170 lbs.: Johnny Hendricks (171) vs. Justin Haskins (169)
205 lbs.: Mark Munoz (205) vs. Ricardo Barros (205)
145 lbs.: Diego Nunes (146) vs. Cole Province (146)
155 lbs.: Bart Palaszewski (155) vs. Alex Karalexis (156)
145 lbs.: Hiroyuki Takaya (146) vs. Cub Swanson (145)
155 lbs.: Shane Roller (156) vs. Mike Budnik (155)
*Fighters are allowed one extra pound in non-title bouts
Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for all your WEC 37 coverage before, during and after the event. The main card bouts will air live on the Versus Network beginning at 8 pm ET on fight night.
45 Comments »
I don’t know too many names on this card, but free mma is for me! Bart pal-whatever his name is, he’s from IFL, right? Violent mike, is this a good card? you’re the resident WEC guy!
Tons of great fighters. Wagnney Fabiano is a stud. Cub Swanson is very solid. Karalexis is best known (to me anyways) for having his nose half torn off by “hell-bows”.
Here you go Kev – I posted this a few weeks back but saved it as a word doc. I also added a bunch more to it as well.
At first glance to the casual eye, the event doesn’t look that great. HOWEVER, if you are into the young up and comers in the sport, DO NOT MISS THIS EVENT, and do what you can to watch some of the prelims.
Brian Bowles vs. Will Ribeiro is almost definitely a #1 contender match. Expect to see the winner of this fight take on the winner of the main event early next year. Brian Bowles is a fast paced fighter that is always looking to finish the fight, but Ribeiro is no slouch and has appeared in the Top 10 of the division at times. But right now, Brian Bowles is the up and comer looking to get a shot at the title.
Wagnney Fabiano vs. Akitoshi Tamura – For those of you that do not know if Wagnney is, its time to learn about him!!! This kid is for real, and you’ll hear me say that a few times throughout this post, but I’m being for real when I say that they are for real. Really! He is most known for fighting in the IFL. Wagnney is known for his brilliant BJJ but his last win came by a brutal KO. However, Tamura is always game and he can endure a lot. HOwever, Wagnney will be looking for he submission victory
Joseph Benavidez vs. Danny Martinez – I don’t know much about Martinez – he’s making his WEC debut and the only fight I know of him is his loss to Mark Hominick. But he’s not the fighter to be looking at in this fight, that would be Joseph Benavidez – he is for real!!! He trains with Urijah Faber and he is his protege, his TOP student. I expect BIG things for Benavidez in 2009. He looked phenominal in his win in DREAM. I would think that being good buds with Urijah sure can’t hurt when it comes to pulling strings in the WEC.
Johnny Hendricks is a Team TakeDown fighter (Jake Rosholt, Shane Rollins). He has quite a personality as shown in the TapOut show. Being from Team TakeDown (a team of All-American, midwestern, college wrestlers (mostly Oklahoma) that are fully sponsored to train MMA full time), you KNOW he can take the fight to the ground with his solid wrestling base. BUT, Johnny has REALLY been working his hands and wants nothing more than a KO, not a TKO, but a KO. Look for him to keep it standing as long as he is getting the better of it. But as soon as he catches a big punch/kick, he’ll put his opponent on his back. I always root for Johny!
Mark Munoz – Look for him to be welcomed into the UFC with open arms with a win over this nobody if he wins impressively. Otherwise, he may be back to his home at Strikeforce, I do not know the terms of his contract.
Blas Avena vs. Kevin Knabjian – Blas, the casino employee that always makes it onto the card. He is a good mid-tier WEC fighter that will never get a title shot. Knabjian, don’t know of…
Bart Palaszewski vs. Alex Karalexis – THIS is actually a fight that is worhty of being on a UFC Fight Night preliminary card. Both of these fighters made a name for themselves. Through IFL and TUF 1 respectively. As long as this fight stays standing, which it should, it potentially has Fight of the Night written all over it. SlugFest! I HOPE this one gets televised!
Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Cub Swanson – Is this REALLY a Cub Swanson sighting??? He fell off the face of the earth after getting choked out by Jens Pulver. A lot of talent, but possibly a bit too cocky for his own good. They are trying to give him a rebound win here.
Shane Roller vs. Mike Budnik is the prelim fight that I want to see just as badly, if not more so than Bart/Alex. Actually, scrap that, this is the prelim I want to see most. Shane Roller is also from Team TakeDown and has ben on a tear and showing just how physically strong he is for the division. Mike Budnik you may not have heard of. BUT, I bet you heard of his cousins. Dan and Jim Miller who now fight for the UFC. The winner of this fight will quickly find himself being televised next time.
In other words, EXCELENT FIGHTS by the WEC Kev, don’t miss the event!!!! I can’t wait for it. And then we got 2 new episodes of TUF as well. CAN ANYONE CONFIRM if they are showing 2 semi-final fights per episode tonight? meaning that we will know the finals today. The finale is on the 13th, so they only have one more week that they can show epidsodes.
great preview vm i couldn’t agree more this card has some great up and coming talent on it
Pay attention on the Brazilian, Nunes (11-0), Ribeiro and Fabiano.
Ricardo Barros is Brazilian well as. But I don’t know him very well.
Nunes interview I found:
http://www.intheguard.tv/portal/?channel=2§ion=2&action=1&id=100
I thought WEC did away with LHW?
After this show its gone.
everyone made weight!!! WOOT WOOT
Man, i thought Nunes was gonna have trouble since he usually fights 160-170. That said, i got Torres, Ribeiro, Fabianno. Torres will get tagged a lot in the standup though.
Miguel Torres, tho extremely talented, is overrated in my opnion, and does not deserve the top 10 p4p that many give him!
now, go ahead with the why my opinion is wrong comments!
how can opinion be wrong? I never understood that socal, it’s opinion, but you’re right, someone will say you’re wrong. Funny thing is, P4P rankings are all opinion anyways! some have randy (and his 16-8 record) up there, and others don’t have BJ on their list. it’s all opinion…in my opinion!
Wrong!!!
J/K
SoCalStunNa, I for one haven’t watched or followed a lot of 135lbrs, but because it’s bantam-weight, I assume it’s tough as hell!…I hear, Miguel Torres is consider a legend in the making fighting since 2000 with a record of 34-1 at 27 yrs old. I assume why he’s winning so much is he’s well rounded + extremely durable… Durability is under-rated!
he has NEVER fought ANYBODY
the slightest talent can go by beating cans.. ask kimbo slice
SOCAL: Kevin’s right, by definition, an opinion cannot be either right or wrong. I personally don’t think he’s overrated because I don’t think many mainstream mma fans even know who he is. The 135 lb division doesn’t have a lot of visibility so it’s hard for him to get much exposure. My opinion is that he should be on p4p rankings because his overall skills match up well with just about anyone’s.
RANDY MURDERS, please name me 5 top fighters in the 135 division? Without using the internet, I would bet money that you couldnt. With that said, how could you expect him to defeat big names at 135 if you don’t know who the big names are?????
Although this scenario is highly unlikely, say there is a fan that only likes to watch the lower weight classes and only watched WEC and the Japanese promotions. He would look at anyones recored, say Anderson Silva, and say that he has only fought bums because they never heard of anyone that he faced. But that isn’t true, what is true is that that person does not know enough about the weight division to make conclusions.
I realize an opinion cannot be wrong but you guys know what i mean!
and yea its ridiculus to have Randy in a p4p and not BJ
If anyone really does, they are TRUELY INSANE
I thought that 205 185lbs WC were gone? Why is there a 205 lb fight on the card?
i was thinking the same.. anyone know what thats about?
Yea, it’s still 2008 therefore the weight classes are not yet absolved.
joey benevedez is a fucking stud. local legend for mma fans here in macramento. 1st round sub or ko.
im just glad i dont have to listen to goldbergs bitch ass tomorrow night.
watch out for joey benevedez. besides urijah, hes the best fighter over here in sacramento. 1st round ko or sub.
im just glad that i dont have to listen to Goldbergs bitch ass run his mouth all night. that guy is such a tool with my dream job.
AHHHH, there we go. I was wondering what macramento was…. lol
Torres has the best guard in MMA, better than BJ Penn. Tapia will give him a run for his money if they stay on their feet, but I give the fight to Toress in Round 4 tapout.
I think he says it best: “Fighting me is like fighting an octopus in quicksand.”
Put Dustin Hazelett up there in the top 3 as well!
And dont’ forget Maia or Palhares…
and aoki.
AND Jacare
skinny fuck………….
What happened to Grispi? I thought he was fighting Nunes….
Off Topic: Aparently it was an error on the UFC web page and the Marcus Davis vs Chris Lytle fight will be on the main card at UFC 93. Also the Palhares vs Horn fight will be on the main card as well. These two bouts are replacing the Siver vs Mohr and the Mendes vs Gousmau which have been moved to the under card. I had a sneaking suspicion that it was an error and I think I, along with most people on this sight, were right.
Of course it was. I couldn’t believe how many people were freaking out about it, there’s no way they would have those two fights on the main card over Davis-Lytle and Palhares-Horn. The UFC may occasionally make some questionable decisions but that would just be crazy.
I didn’t believe it, I was claiming “early April Fools”
Grispi got injured i think, Grispi vs. Aldo should happen instead of Grispi vs. Nunes anyways.
Aldo is a stud. Love his height/reach advantage. Looking forward to big things from him
Haven’t seen Torres fight live, excited for that! Don’t know many other fighters on this card but I’ll watch it after work the next morning commercial free!! God bless DVR!!!!
The only way I watch these VS and Spike event is DVR’ing them and start watcing after I got about an hour and 20 mintues recorded so that I can fast forward through all of the commercials – I still watch all the hype, but I cant stand the commercials between rounds and between fights.
When you fast forward between rounds, you can only fast forward “single speed” instead of double or triple because you may end up seeing the end of the fight if it ends in first 30 seconds of the round and you were fast fowarding too fast… It happened to me once a looong time ago because I always fast forward “double speed” (meaning hitting fast forward button twice to make it go faster)
Why am I talking about this???? Just shows how much I don’t feel like working right now…
Is this card aired on any Canadian channels?
tsn2
Thanks…
Benavidez will have a title shot by this time next year. UF ROCKS, GO SACTOWN!!!!!