Miguel Torres vs. Manny Tapia Odds

The main event of the evening sees WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres defend his crown against #1 contender Manny Tapia (-700 / 400 odds ) in a fight that will determine not only the WEC Championship, but the title of world’s #1 Bantamweight. The fight is guaranteed to be a barn burner, as both guys are well known for putting on exciting shows, not to mention that it is an interesting stylistic matchup.

Manny Tapia, known as “The Mangler”, came by his nickname honestly. Well known for going toe to toe with his opponents and blasting them out with dynamic punches, Tapia is the kind of fighter fans love to watch perform. His gameplan going into this fight with Torres will be identical to his gameplan in every fight: bring the pain to his opponent, square off, and let leather fly with reckless abandon. If he can lure Torres into standing and trading shots, Tapia’s chances of securing a victory are very high.

For his part, Torres will most likely be looking to avoid exactly those kinds of exchanges. While his Muay Thai is powerful and precise, it would not benefit him to stand and trade with a puncher of Tapia’s caliber. Instead, I would expect the champion to do everything in his power to get the fight to the ground, where he is the vastly superior fighter. As his current 15 fight win streak proves, Torres is an expert at playing to his strengths and exploiting the holes in his opponents’ games. While he will no doubt take some punishment, I think Torres should be able to effectively close the distance and eventually secure a takedown, at which point it is only a matter of time before his superior grappling pays dividends.

Torres takes this one with a hard-fought submission victory late in the third round.

1.  Bar De Leon on December 3rd, 2008 6:38 pm

   If the saying “you box a brawler and you brawl a boxer” stands true, then I’d like to state that you ground a pounder and pound a grounder. I’ve seen both fighters fight and there is no doubt to where their strengths lies. Both fighters are indeed masters in their art and this will definitely be a fight that will go down in the MMA history books.

   Torres is excellent on the ground and deadly with his submissions. He is quick and powerful and knows the dynamics of the human body to the point that the only other people that knows more than him are chiropractors. He has a notable stand up game but I agree that he will most likely (almost defenitely) take this fight to the canvas. Getting there is another story.

   Manny “The Mangler” Tapia is such an explosive fighter with lightning fast punches backed by a thunderous clap of power. He has the ability to find holes in your guard and deliver a pin-point accurate punch that stuns his opponents if not knocking them down. And if there are no holes, his punches are so powerful that they penatrate through anyways. His ground game may not be as powerful as his punches but do not underestimate them, especialy his ability to prevent a take down.

   Tapia takes this one with a knock out in the 2nd round.

2.  Lamberto Quintero on May 13th, 2009 11:55 am

   Miguel Angel Torres,

   I can help you improve your standing fighting by a whole lot!
   I live next door here in Chicago. Contact me, and either I come to meet you to Indiana or you come here to Illinois.

   Campeon, te puedo ayudar como no te lo imaginas. Comunicate!

   Saludos.

   Lamberto Quintero