Bowles loses WEC bantamweight title
Inside Fights
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Dominick Cruz won the belt when Bowles could not come out for the third round of their bout. In the co-main event, Miguel Torres, who lost the bantamweight title to Bowles last year, suffered a second-round submission loss to Joseph Benavidez.
The injury to Bowles aside, Cruz fought with a great game plan. The first round saw Cruz stay active, while landing some great combinations against the powerful striker. The second round was more of the same, and Bowles was falling behind on the scorecard, as Cruz continued with his confusing movement, solid combinations and takedown ability.
However, just as the explosive crowd in Ohio was ready for a third round, Bowles decided he was unable to continue because of a broken hand. Bowles said in the postfight interview that he sustained the injury with the first punch he threw — one of the few that actually landed.
Benavidez earned his victory in a different way. He utilized his phenomenal speed and wrestling ability to explode into combinations and takedowns. The member of Team Alpha Male dictated the fight early, winning the first round with a nice takedown followed up with some vicious ground and pound.
The second round was even better for Benavidez, as he landed a takedown and issued some severe ground and pound to the former champion. The sharp elbows led to a bad cut to the forehead of Torres. Benavidez soon locked on a tight guillotine choke to force a tapout
Torres was not the only WEC great to submit Saturday. Jens Pulver tapped in the second round against Javier Vazquez. His fiftth straight loss led to tears from Pulver, a blatant hint at retirement.
In earlier bouts, L.C. Davis beat Deividas Taurosevicius in a close majority decision, and Bart Palaszewski rallied to force Karen Darabedyan to submit with a slick armbar.
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