Dominick Cruz Not Surprised to Be Facing Joseph Benavidez Again

The next couple of weeks are looking pretty, pretty, pretty sweet for MMA fans; first we have this Wednesday’s WEC, Saturday night will feature Strikeforce’s “King Mo vs. Feijao” card, as well as, Sengoku 14 (that’s a promotion in Japan for you MMA-lite fans), and then next Saturday of course is UFC 118. Not too […]

Dominick_Cruz

The next couple of weeks are looking pretty, pretty, pretty sweet for MMA fans; first we have this Wednesday’s WEC, Saturday night will feature Strikeforce’s “King Mo vs. Feijao” card, as well as, Sengoku 14 (that’s a promotion in Japan for you MMA-lite fans), and then next Saturday of course is UFC 118. Not too shabby.

First things first is Wednesday’s WEC, which will feature a rematch between bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and Joseph Benavidez, and if you’ve seen these guys throw down before you know that there’s a damn good chance you’re going to be entertained. Cruz earned a UD win over Benavidez last September, and based off that experience, it doesn’t sound like he was too surprised when Benavidez took out Rani Yahya and Miguel Torres. Speaking to MMA Weekly about his upcoming title defense Cruz said:

“I always knew he had the potential to do what he did for those fights,” Cruz told MMAWeekly Radio. “Everything about fights comes down to style match-up, and if you stand in front of Joseph and let him punch you, you’re going to get punched. The key is fighting him a specific way, making sure he can’t unload on you.”… “You’ve got to be able to change your style up, and unfortunately those guys weren’t quite able to figure it out.”

It’s also interesting to note that Cruz took the belt from Brian Bowles, who ended the long reign of Torres, who in turn was taken out by Benavidez. Well, we think that makes the fight interesting at least.

To bet on Wednesday’s action head here.

Joseph Benavidez Not Underestimating Dominick Cruz This Time Around

Filed under: MMA Videos, WEC, FanHouse Exclusive, VideosMMA Fighting recently spoke to Joseph Benavidez about his upcoming bantamweight title fight at WEC 50 against Dominick Cruz.

Benavidez, who lost to Cruz via unanimous decision last August, talked…

Filed under: , , ,

MMA Fighting recently spoke to Joseph Benavidez about his upcoming bantamweight title fight at WEC 50 against Dominick Cruz.

Benavidez, who lost to Cruz via unanimous decision last August, talked about why he underestimated Cruz the first time they fought, how he has improved since the loss, why the WEC made the right choice to give him the title shot and whether he would ever fight his friend Urijah Faber.

Check out the video interview below.

MMA Top 10 Pound-for-Pound: Anderson Silva Slips

Filed under: UFC, WECThere’s another change at the top of my pound-for-pound rankings.

A month ago I dropped Fedor Emelianenko from the top of the list to all the way off the list following his loss to Fabricio Werdum. When Fedor dropped out I moved A…

Filed under: ,

There’s another change at the top of my pound-for-pound rankings.

A month ago I dropped Fedor Emelianenko from the top of the list to all the way off the list following his loss to Fabricio Werdum. When Fedor dropped out I moved Anderson Silva to the top. But on Saturday night we watched the worst performance of Anderson Silva’s UFC career, and although Silva pulled off a brilliant submission to win the fight, he struggled enough through the first four and a half rounds that he deserves to drop in the rankings.

Find out who’s No. 1 now, and how far Silva fell, below.

WEC 50 Fight Card: Dominick Cruz vs. Joseph Benavidez

Filed under: WECThe WEC 50 fight card will be headlined by Dominick Cruz’s WEC bantamweight title defense against Joseph Benavidez on Aug. 18 at the Pearl in Las Vegas.

The two previously met one year ago at WEC 42 and the fight resulted in Cruz deliv…

Filed under:

The WEC 50 fight card will be headlined by Dominick Cruz‘s WEC bantamweight title defense against Joseph Benavidez on Aug. 18 at the Pearl in Las Vegas.

The two previously met one year ago at WEC 42 and the fight resulted in Cruz delivering Benavidez the only loss of his career.

Also, Benavidez’s Alpha Male team captain, Urijah Faber, makes his bantamweight debut against contender Takeya Mizugaki.

The WEC 50 fight card is below.

MMA Top 10 Pound-for-Pound: Emperor’s Reign Ends

Filed under: UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, Rankings, OverallFedor Emelianenko has been at the top of my list of the Top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in mixed martial arts for a year and a half, since he beat Andrei Arlovski in January 2009. He’s obviously not …

Filed under: , , , ,

Fedor Emelianenko has been at the top of my list of the Top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in mixed martial arts for a year and a half, since he beat Andrei Arlovski in January 2009. He’s obviously not at the top anymore, after Fabricio Werdum submitted him in just 69 seconds on Saturday night.

But is Fedor still in the Top 10? Not on my list.

Some people would say Fedor’s body of work merits inclusion in the Top 10, but this isn’t a list of the greatest fighters of all time, it’s a list of the greatest fighters right now. And the soon-to-be 34-year-old Emelianenko, even though he is the greatest fighter of all time, isn’t one of the 10 best right now. My list, the first one I’ve ever put together without Fedor on it, is below.

WEC’s August 18 Card Will Feature Urijah Faber’s Bantamweight Debut, Cruz/Benavidez Title Rematch

(Cruz and Benavidez’s first meeting last August: Dominick may have gotten the nod for Octagon control, but Joe definitely had the mad-dogging advantage. Photo courtesy of SI)
Next Sunday’s WEC 49 might be low on marquee fights, but th…

Dominick Cruz Joseph Benavidez WEC 42
(Cruz and Benavidez’s first meeting last August: Dominick may have gotten the nod for Octagon control, but Joe definitely had the mad-dogging advantage. Photo courtesy of SI)

Next Sunday’s WEC 49 might be low on marquee fights, but the organization will be making up for it in a big way at their August 18th show, which is slated to go down in Las Vegas. As reported yesterday, former featherweight champ Urijah Faber will make his bantamweight debut at the event, following a 2-3 stretch in his last five fights — including an agonizing loss to Jose Aldo in his last title challenge. Faber’s opponent is expected to be Takeya Mizugaki (12-4-2, 2-2 WEC), who made his WEC debut in a memorable five-round war against Miguel Torres last year, and has since picked up decision victories against Jeff Curran and Rani Yahya. Faber has stated in the past that he cuts very little weight to make 145 pounds, and a drop to 135 wouldn’t be a problem for him.

Headlining the card will be an even more important bantamweight scrap: Dominick Cruz‘s first title defense against Faber’s teammate Joseph Benavidez, who Cruz previously outpointed at WEC 42. Cruz became champion in March thanks to a brilliant striking performance against then-champion Brian Bowles. Benavidez earned his title shot by choking out Miguel Torres at the same event, and hopes to avenge the only loss on his record. The 8/18 show — which we’ll refer to as WEC 50 until further notice — will be broadcast on Versus.

Semi-related: The day before he handles color-commentary duties for WEC 49, Kenny Florian will be working the booth for the TUF 11 Finale.