WEC 42 Quick Recap, a tribute to Miguel Torres, Brian Bowles and the birth of Violence Alliance

What a great weekend of MMA! Let's get right into it, here's how my picks fared last night...

• Bowles +280, 1 unit to win 2.8 units...WINNER +2.8 units
• Benavidez -280, 2.8 units to win 1 unit...LOSER -2.8 units
• Curran +165, 1 unit to win 1.65 units...LOSER -1 unit
• Garcia -525, 525 units to win 1 unit...WINNER +1 unit

So a pretty average night on the picks, 2-2 for 0 units. I'll take a push over a losing day, any day. Here's some thoughts on some of the fights...

JAMEEL MASSOUGH vs LEONARD GARCIA
Garcia did not win that fight. I didn't see it that way at all. I thought on several occasions that Massough had a chance to finish him, but didn't. It happens all the time that the more popular fighter wins a controversial decision. I think Garcia got very lucky on this one and I would have been sooooooooooooo nervous had I actually had money on this fight.

JEFF CURRAN vs TAKEYA MIZUGAKI

Here's another decision I disagree with. Well, maybe only slightly because this decision could of gone either way. I was partial, I wanted Curran to win. I think if he got 30 more seconds at the end he could of done it. Another tough loss for Big Frog.

DOMINICK CRUZ vs JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ

I missed this one. I was playing flip cup, lol. I read that Cruz won unanimously so he must of been impressive. I'll have to check it out some time.

BRIAN BOWLES vs MIGUEL TORRES
Now this one, I did not miss. I am not surprised that Bowles finished Torres. I thought he would of had a harder time with Torres, but he got down to business and delivered some devastating blows. There's not really anyone in this division who deserves a title shot right away, so I expect these two to have a rematch. Probably not right away, but in the next year or so.

Miguel, A True Champion

Miguel is a tremendous fighter, one of the best. He will bounce back. He had an amazing run and 17 wins in a row is one of the longest streaks in MMA history. I can't say enough good things about the guy. Not only a great fighter, but the guy is a class act. I had a chance to meet him once in Las Vegas and he was very personable and took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to talk to my friend and me. I also respect what he does for his community. Miguel chose to build his new gym in the neighborhood he grew up in, which is in a poorer area of Chicago, instead of moving it to a more affluent area which he could of easily done. Not only did he stay there, but gives back in many ways. For instance, he offers his training to help keep kids off the streets and some he even trains for free if they can not afford it. While he may not be the world champion anymore, he is still a champion at life and I can't think of many fighters that I have more respect for not only as a fighter but as a human being. I know I might be talking about the guy like he's retiring or something, but that's not my intention at all. I just want to give him the credit he deserves for being such a great champion. With that said, I'd like to talk about Brian Bowles for a minute…

Brian Bowles and the birth of Violence Alliance
A few years ago Bowles was a relatively unknown fighter. I first saw him fight Charlie Valencia. At the time, Valencia was thought of as a top contender. No one told Brian. Brian subbed him in the 2nd round. Needless to say, I was impressed. Well one day on Myspace I saw a post from the Forrest Griffin myspace saying that one of his friends was looking for a sponsor. I inquired and found out that it was Brian who looking for a shirt sponsor for his upcoming fight against the #2 bantamweight in the world, Marcus Galvao. So a few friends and I pulled some money together and decided to sponsor Brian. We made him shirts and called our company Violence Alliance. We thought the name was catchy, unique, and marketable. The fight was on the undercard, but we didn't really care at that point, we were just so excited about our new idea. In dramatic fashion, Brian dominates Galvao, knocks him out in the 2nd round, gets Knockout of the Night, and they air his fight right before the main broadcast.. which just so happened to be a little known guy by the name of Urijah Faber. I guess Brian didn't like being thought of as a stepping stone for Galvao. I knew right then and there we had something special with this guy. Brian went on to win 2 more fights before his devastating knockout last night. It was really fulfilling knowing that a guy who I thought could be great turned out to be better than great, the next champ and to defeat one of the greatest previous champions. Last night was surreal. I want to thank all my friends and family that have supported the VA dream and are helping to keep it alive. It's because of them that we are still able to develop our brand and dream and the opportunity to work with fighters like Brian. You guys are the best!

Wow, that had to be one of the best weekends of MMA in a really long time. The guys at Zuffa who own the UFC and WEC did a tremendous job. Ok, I'm going to put the MMA on the shelf for a few days and transition to some blogs about fantasy football. I know a lot of you are looking forward to that side of the blog.

Thanks again for checking out my blog and thanks to these sites for the photos and information...
www.mmajunkie.com
www.sherdog.com

www.wec.tv

www.vaallday.com