Which former WEC champions are likely be UFC champion in the new divisions?

Mike Brown
Urijah Faber
Eddie Wineland
Miguel Torres
Brian Bowles
Cole Escovedo
Chase Beebe

Urijah Faber
Brian Bowles

No to the rest.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Mike Brown
Urijah Faber
Eddie Wineland
Miguel Torres
Brian Bowles
Cole Escovedo
Chase Beebe

All of these guys are in positions to earn title-shots again.

Brown just rebounded from his loss to Manny with yet another impressive first round squashing of a solid FW. If Aldo leaves the division things are wide open. He has a legitimate punchers chance against anyone, including Aldo and crushes anything not elite. He doesn't have age and fight wear on his side though.

Torres looked good in his last outing and is at most two fights away, maybe one fight away from being in the position to fight for the title. I think a Cruz Torres fight has a lot of potential. I don't think he has declined as a fighter and I think he still has the tools to be dangerous. I don't know that he is as durable as he once seemed.

Bowles hasn't even peaked as a fighter yet and has exceptionally heavy hands for the division that make him supremely dangerous. Unlike Benavidez, Bowles isn't at a reach disadvantage. His chances in a rematch are still solid.

Wineland, for his part, was the first WEC BW champion, who actually defended his belt from solid contender Antonio Banuelos, and has won his last three WEC fights. He's only 26 and is still improving.

I think Tyson Griffin will come down and he and Manny would both beat MTB. I think Urijah, Bowles and Cruz will beat anyone else at Bantamweight.

I'd pick Faber or Bowles to beat Cruz. Don't think much of the rest

bobbitt15 wrote:

I'd pick Faber or Bowles to beat Cruz. Don't think much of the rest

I agree with that except I still like Torres to compete.

Torres is not beating Bowles, Jorgensen, Cruz, Faber, or Benavidez

Miguel Torres maybe written off too much? I criticized him and his record as much as anyone but he still has a lot of tools.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Miguel Torres maybe written off too much? I criticized him and his record as much as anyone but he still has a lot of tools.

I still love Torres. Still one of my favorite fighters....but then ago so is Chuck. I'm loyal to a fault.

I agree with Wolf, cant write off Torres, too much skill there to dismiss

Faber and Bowles

There isn't a huge amount of stratification at BW. I think there are a lot of guys who could win the title there. Apart from Aldo, FW is the same way.

Faber and Bowles //

Has anyone seen Eddie Wineland fight enough to write off his chances? He looked good the last time out.

bobbitt15 wrote:

I'd pick Faber or Bowles to beat Cruz. Don't think much of the rest

+1

Interesting topic, interesting with the names selected. Just shows the no love WEC LWs were getting.

I think Wolf was just asking about the new divisions when they were being added, not the LWs moving over

Lol, funny I said I would take Faber and Bowles to beat Cruz and then was 100% confident in my Cruz pick by the time that fight rolled around

Bowels still looks strong though when his hands are healthy. I hope that fight gets going without a hitch.

Speaking of a couple classic bumps/interesting reads. Check this out.
https://ninjasplace.forumotion.net/t2548-former-hw-champion-most-likely-to-be-champion-number-1-ranked-again?vote=viewresult

Cruz would confound the shit out of Bowles again. Even if he hadn't broken his hand he was losing that fight prior to ie being stopped and there were no signs that he would have fared any better.

Ludo wrote:

Cruz would confound the shit out of Bowles again. Even if he hadn't broken his hand he was losing that fight prior to ie being stopped and there were no signs that he would have fared any better.

I kind of agree, Cruz is just too elusive for him. However I think Bowles has the power to turn out the lights, so that always gives you a punchers chance.

I guess. But Cruz has proven so difficult to touch at all, let alone land a big shot on. Faber is the only one who's been able to land with any kind of real success and even he got the worse of it more often than not. Cruz has a unique skillset of being incredibly fast, a cardio freak, and very unorthodox with the wrestling ability to match anyone in the division.