FanHouse WEC40

Japanese bantamweight Takeya Mizugaki, who put together a thrilling fight in a losing effort against World Extreme Cagefighting champion Miguel Torres this month at WEC 40, is expected to return to the cage in August against Jeff Curran at WEC 42.

A WEC source told FanHouse that Mizugaki vs. Curran has not been signed, but the promotion wants to put the fight on and both fighters have expressed interest. WEC 42 is likely to be headlined by Torres defending the bantamweight title against Brian Bowles, and Mizugaki vs. Curran is expected to be televised on the undercard of that show.

Now is a great time to be a fan of small fighters. We just witnessed the best bantamweight card ever at WEC 40, and my list of the Top 10 featherweights in MMA features a whole lot of guys who either won over the weekend or are about to get big tests.

It's not often that a fighter moves up in our MMA rankings after losing a fight, but then again it's not often that a fighter looks as impressive in a losing effort as Takeya Mizugaki looked in dropping a unanimous decision to Miguel Torres at WEC 40. So as we update our list of the Top 10 bantamweights in MMA, we've moved Mizugaki up -- ahead of everyone but Torres.

CHICAGO -- After spending half an hour bruising and bloodying each other's faces on Sunday night, Miguel Torres and Takeya Mizugaki showed nothing but mutual respect and admiration. They hugged in the cage immediately following their fight, which Torres won by unanimous decision to retain his World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight title, and then they praised each other effusively afterward.

Moments after Miguel Torres beat Takeya Mizugaki to retain the World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight title, I caught up with Brian Bowles, who will get the next shot at Torres' belt. It was clear that Bowles is anxious to get that shot.

Bowles told me that he agreed with the judges that Torres won the fight, but he also praised Mizugaki for his aggressive approach. Bowles said he thought it was a terrific fight, and that by watching Mizugaki go the distance with Torres, he picked up a few things that he might be able to use when he fights Torres.

CHICAGO -- Miguel Torres returned victorious to his hometown Sunday night, as the World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion defeated challenger Takeya Mizugaki at WEC 40 by unanimous decision in a tough, hard-fought battle that will make any list of the best fights of 2009.

We're a few hours away from the 40th event in the history of World Extreme Cagefighting, and as I was looking at the fight card today, I got to thinking: Is this the best collection of bantamweights ever assembled at one MMA event?

At a question-and-answer session for fans after Saturday's WEC 40 weigh-in, someone asked UFC interim heavyweight champion Frank Mir and WEC stars Mike Brown and Urijah Faber to name their choice for the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA. The two featherweights chose a heavyweight, while the heavyweight chose a bantamweight.

Both Brown and Faber said Fedor Emelianenko is the best pound-for-pound fighter. Mir, however, said that while Fedor is the best heavyweight, WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres is the best pound-for-pound. Brown and Faber noted that Fedor dominates his opponents, but Mir said Torres is a far more versatile fighter who has more tools at his disposal. So who's right?

Brian Bowles will be watching with interest when Miguel Torres fights Takeya Mizugaki on Sunday night at WEC 40 for a very simple reason: He's preparing himself to fight the winner.

Bowles, who was scheduled to challenge Torres for the World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight title before he had to pull out with a back injury, told me Saturday that his expectation is that he'll fight the Torres-Mizugaki winner for the title. Bowles said he expects to get the next shot at the WEC bantamweight belt. A a title fight between Bowles and either Torres or Mizugaki could take place at WEC 42 in August.

World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion Miguel Torres and challenger Takeya Mizugaki both weighed in at the 135-pound limit for Sunday night's WEC 40 title fight, but not everyone on the undercard made the cut at a weigh-in where a handful of fighters needed to get completely naked with only towels shielding them from the crowd.