Torres v.s. Mizugaki - Round By Round

Bonjour et bon soir, mes amis.

As you may know Miguel "Angel" Torres will be fighting tonight, defending his WEC championship against Takeya Mizugaki. This is how the fight is sized up on the Fox Sports site:

CHICAGO - Watching the way bantamweight champion Miguel Torres glared across his right shoulder at Takeya Mizugaki every time the challenger spoke at Friday's WEC 40 pre event press conference, you would have thought he wanted to tear the Japanese fighter apart right then and there. Maybe that's because he did.



"I want to fight him now," Torres (35-1) told InsideFighting after the press conference ended.

"I hadn't seen him. I don't know anything about him and to be able to stand three feet away from him I wanted to like jump over the podium and choke him while he was talking. I wanted to so bad."

Torres' menacing game face is quickly becoming the stuff of legend. It certainly had Reed Harris talking Friday afternoon. The World Extreme Cagefighting typically straps title belts on to the waists of champions after their wins inside the cage. But after a recent successful Torres defense he found the task more scary than routine.

"I went over with his belt after the fight to put it on him, tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around with this look," Harris remembered while recreating his own fear-filled expression from the moment. "He scared me and I took a step back. �Whoa!' One of Miguel's guys then came over to me and said, 'He'll be fine in a couple minutes.' He just gets in a zone when he's fighting."

As followers of this blog know, when I am not working on my short film of my one-act play about Charles Baudelaire in the Confederate South I can usually be found in various stages of undress, in my kitchen, slicing garlic with a high G piano wire or repairing one of my prized powdered wigs. Otherwise, there is a good chance that I am eating sandwiches in the tub, listening to the TV in the other room playing the Director's Commentary of Starship Troopers.



However, once I finally settle down, I like to build a nest out of antique jewelry in the middle of my living room and practice my wrestling bridging, keeping my form both supple and limber.

Nothing goes with this better than a double espresso and Mixed Martial Arts, and I believe tonight's fight will be the most important MMA contest before Uriah Faber rematches Mike Brown.

Brown took Faber's belt in a TKO at their last meeting. Check out Brown here in another contest:


Brown vs. Garcia - Watch more Funny Videos

Many people think Uriah is the best pound-for-pound fighter out there. Faber is fantastic, but Torres gets my vote as THE BEST FIGHTER IN THE WORLD.

The fight's about to begin.

I am going to blog as the fight goes on, so I can share my reactions blow by blow.

The fight will take place in Chicago. This is de facto home court for East Chicagoan, Torres.

Pre Fight:

Miz makes his entrance. He looks focused and cool. He has a beautiful face for a fighter, and he carries himself with the quiet confidence we see in many Japanese fighters: an elegant bravado.

The corner man applies a liberal coat of petroleum jelly to Miz' eyes and brow. Annointed, the Miz prays briefly before entering the cage.

Torres enters with an intensity that appears to find his dark, focused eyes on the verge of tears. Again, Torres seems ferocious. Mir just commented that "Torres is seriously looking to hurt you at all times." That said, this guy is a TOTAL CLASS ACT - and a mean motherfucker on The Octagon.

Tail of the Tape: Torres'reach is -as always- something to contend with. He has 8 inches on Miz. Torres also has insanely long legs. In fact MMA should consider length of leg in their tape stats. It makes a huge difference.

Round 1:

Round starts slowly. Miz begins to throw several fearless combos.
Torres is n't throwing his jab like usual. Torres complains of a low kick, but is unhurt. Miguel throws several knees in a clinch with Miz and gets slammed down on his back. Both fighters are throwing many punches, but both are slipping both with great movement, head/movement. Torres is leading with a left round kick, but to little real effect. Torres' trademark jab is nowhere to be found. I give the first round to Miz.

Round 2:

Torres slips an recovers quickly. Miz is the aggressor again. He's not doing a lot of damage, but he is running the fight. Miz continues to make points on the inside. Miz lands a great right. The best punch of the night. Miz starts eating punches. There is a sense of blood in the water. Torres pins him on the cage. Miz turns him out, but is quickly pinned again as Torres unloads knees to the Miz' midsection. Miz is tired. Torres loses his mouthpiece and the fighters need to start again. Torres is throwing knees in baroque arcs that are a kind of dance of damage raining down against the ribs of the Miz. Torres wins the round on a strong second half.

Round 3:

Starts slow. Torres looks like a cobra. Mir raves about a left hook that all but misses. Miz lands some good shots after Torres kicks his front leg. Torres misses a gullotine attempt. Miz continues being busy with his combo punching. Mir goes crazy for a lame punch to the top of Miz' head only to immediately have the fight stopped to investigate a nasty cut over Torres' right eye that seems to have come from a Miz' left. This could be a big deal. Torres pushes the pace and Miz answers back. Torres in beginning to pour it on as his elbows come into play. The Miz lands a great combo of punches and ends with knee to Torres face which is again awash in red. The crowd begins to cheer TORRES. TORRES. TORRES. The round ends. Miz wins another.

Round 4:

Miguel goes into round with huge gobs of jelly on his cut. Where is Torres' jab? Torres takes the fight to the ground, but Miz escapes. Mir suggests that Torres may need to take the fight to the ground. Torres is really losing this fight at this point. (3:09) Mir is saying that Torres is landing better shots as Torres bleeds all over Miz. Torres is owning this round. Keeping Miz against the cage indefinitely. Knees and punches. Miz almost takes Torres back after Miguel misses an elbow but Torres drops for kneelock and the pair divide. Torres continues to get the worst of these largely ineffectual exchanges.

Round 5:

I can't believe I am saying this, but Miz has this fight won if Torres can't knock him out in this round. Mir is defending Torres, but we seem to be watching different fights. Torres rocks Miz with three of the best punches of the night. Mir still acting like Torres is ahead on all the cards. Torres throws his only good jab of the night with three minutes left. Torres pins Miz on cage, but is rather ineffectual and he ultimately falls to his back in the scuffle. Torres pins Miz on cage again after some open punching. One minute to go and both fighters seem tired. Miz mocks Torres. Both fighters punch it out hard for the last 20 seconds.

The lack of commentary at the end of the fight has to do with the fact that Mir et al. are trying to figure out how NOT to say that Torres just lost this fight.

I doubt the judges will go this way, but Mizugaki just won this fight.

Torres never even started to establish his jab in a fight that stayed on its feet. He underestimated Miz and got beat.

Here is the decision...

Miguel wins a unanimous decision. This is not correct or just. I love Torres but he lost tonight.


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Joe Nolan

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