WEC 42 Preview: Miguel Torres and Brian Bowles Talk About Their Title Fight (Part 2)

I really think this card is being slept on by most MMA fans. When the former featherweight number one contender is on the preliminary card, you know the card is stacked. WEC 42 comes out as one of the promotion's bests cards ever, and it's a shame that it's getting lost in the fold because of Fedor's DREAM-Force-Global.

So here's even more smack talk between Miguel Torres and Brian Bowles to get you people more excited. On the first post about this, both fighters talked about their keys to victory. Bowles talked about being well rounded and having better wrestling, while Torres talked about his huge advantage in experience.

This time, Brian Bowles talks about being the fighter who figures out how to beat the champion, but Miguel Torres doesn't seem impressed about anything Brian Bowles brings to the table.

Brian Bowles thinks he's Miguel's toughest test to date:

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 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.

Miguel Torres disagrees:

Brian thinks that he's going to show me something I haven't seen, a different look or a game plan that I haven't seen yet, I've had guys try to beat me for my whole career with game plans or try to figure that they're stronger than me or they're going to have a great strategy, but you know I've never seen one implemented yet, one that's been able to work.

Brian Bowles thinks that his striking and wrestling will be the difference:

"I think my punching power is something that has just come natural to me. 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... I haven't really seen [anyone] he's been in there with that hits like I do.

I think my wrestling is going to allow me to dictate where the fight ends up. 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."

He also thinks that Miguel's experience could be a disadvantage

Having more than 30 fights will wear on you. All those fights can tear you down, make you slower and beat you up. Having 30 pro fights isn't always a good thing.

Miguel Torres isn't impressed with Bowles' game either:

Well, I never seen Brian throw one kick, one effective knee. He comes with a big right hand and big left hook, big left uppercut. He just comes straight forward with big punches. I've been working with a ton of boxers, pro boxers in Chicago and the Midwest, and they've all come in with the idea that they were going to knock me out and so I was using my boxing skills. I wasn't even using knees or kicks or anything like that, or elbows.

He's still learning things from these guys. He's still trying to pick stuff up, while I'm refining my game... The guys that I spar with and box with weigh 185 to 205 pounds. They're bigger than Brian; they hit a lot harder than Brian and they follow the same game plan. They bull-rush forward with their rights and their left and they get in their clinch and try to bully me around and they can't do that.

Brian Bowles on how the fight will end:

Every great champion has someone who figures his game out and comes along and beats him. I think I'm going to be the guy who comes in, fights him the right way and beats him... I'm going to try to knock him out and I'm going to try to submit him, and I'll just take the win however I can get it.

Miguel Torres reacts:

I'm going to break his hand with my forehead. He's going to throw a big right hand and I'm going to headbutt his fist and I'm going to shatter his hand and then I'm going to punch him in the face a bunch.

For Brian Bowles to say that he's going to go and do that is astonishing to me, I don't see how it's going to happen. I mean, there's guys that I train with at 155 in the UFC that can't do that to me and these guys come [down] from 185. So we're going to see what's going to happen, Mr. Bowles.

HT: CBS Sports, Fighters Only, and MMA Fanhouse

Official WEC 42 Card:

Main Card:
Miguel Torres (37-1) vs. Brian Bowles (7-0)
Joseph Benvidez (10-0) vs. Dominick Cruz (13-1)
Ricardo Lamas (6-0) vs. Danny Castillo (7-1)
Takeya Mizugaki (11-3-2) vs. Jeff Curran (29-11-1)

Preliminary Card:
Javier Vazquez (13-2) vs. LC Davis (13-2)
Leonard Garcia (12-4) vs. Jameel Massouh (21-5)
Fredson Paixao (8-3) vs. Cole Province (5-1)
Marcus Hicks (8-2) vs. Shane Roller (5-2)
Phil Cardella (8-3) vs. Ed Ratcliff (6-1)
John Hosman (13-4-1) vs. Rani Yahya (14-4)
Diego Nunes (12-0) vs. Rafael Dias (12-5-1)