Takeya Mizugaki

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Nothing lasts forever — even cold November rain, and the seemingly untouchable bantamweight championship run of Miguel Torres. No, Torres did not ruin Brian Bowles's boyish face at last night's WEC 42, as many (everybody?) assumed he would. Instead, Bowles nearly knocked the former champ's mullet off during a violent belt-taking that was reminiscent of Brown vs. Faber 1.

Torres was in trouble from the beginning of the match, as Bowles sent him to the canvas with a heavy right hand. After Bowles dropped some elbows from the top, Torres was able to kick Bowles off of him. Moments later, Torres launched forward with a barrage of punches that had Bowles on his heels, but Bowles fired off a sharp right hook that dropped Torres again, and started throwing down bombs until Torres was in dreamland. Brian Bowles — who picked up a $10,000 Knockout of the Night bonus for his shocking of the world — is the new WEC bantamweight champ. “No excuses,” Torres said after the fight. “Brian is going to be a good champion, but he’ll see that the responsibilities that go along with being the champion are not easy.”

Sources have confirmed to MMA Junkie that the rumored bout between returning welterweight contender Frank Trigg and perennial threat Josh Koscheck will indeed take place at UFC 103 (September 19th, Dallas); bout agreements have been sent out are expected to be signed shortly. Though his last two UFC appearances resulted in first-round rear-naked choke losses to Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre, Trigg is now on a four-fight win streak, including wins over Edwin Dewees and Falaniko Vitale. Koscheck is coming off an upset knockout loss against Paulo Thiago to UFC 95 in February, and needs a win to still be considered one of the best 170-pounders in the division.

UFC 103 will come just three days after UFC Fight Night 19 (September 16th, Oklahoma City), which will serve as a lead-in to the season premiere of For the Love of Kimbo.

In other fight-booking news...

(Torres discusses his war with Mizugaki in the post-event press-conference. Props: MMA Mania)

Yes, it's only early April, but last night's WEC main event between Miguel Torres and Takeya Mizugaki established itself as a 2009 Fight of the Year front-runner that might not be touched in the next nine months. (We'll post the video as soon as it turns up, but the Internet is failing us right now.) Honestly, Torres/Mizugaki made Torres/Maeda look like Lashley/Guida. And the fight was a lot closer than the scorecards (or Frank Mir's biased, nuthugging commentary) would suggest.

Mizugaki shocked the crowd by fearlessly outstriking Torres in the opening round and keeping up an inhuman pace through 25 minutes; wisely, he avoided following Torres to the ground when the champion baited him. Torres may have had the edge in the later rounds, but he was never able to put the tough-as-nails challenger in danger of being finished. Still, he fought relentlessly, and once again proved himself the rightful owner of the 135-pound crown. His next thrilling victory will likely be in August against currently-sidelined #1-contender Brian Bowles.

For their efforts, both Torres and Mizugaki picked up $10,000 Fight of the Night bonuses. (That's the best you can do, WEC? Now we know why Miguel wants to chase larger paydays in ill-advised weight classes.) Also taking home the extra 10 G's were Anthony Njokuani for his Knockout of the Night over Bart Palaszewski, and Rani Yahya for his Submission of the Night (via first-round rear-naked choke) over Eddie Wineland.

(Fred Sanford, bitch. Photo courtesy of the WEC 40 weigh-ins gallery on Combat Lifestyle.)

From tonight's "Torres vs. Mizugaki" show at the UIC Pavillion in Chicago, Illinois:

Rafael Dias def. Mike Budnick via unanimous decision
Akitoshi Tamura def. Manny Tapia via unanimous decision
Rani Yahya def. Eddie Wineland via submission (rear-naked choke), 1:07 of round 1
Wagnney Fabiano def. Fredson Paixao via unanimous decision
Dominick Cruz def. Ivan Lopez via unanimous decision [fight halted in third round after Lopez took an illegal knee and couldn't continue; match went to the scorecards, with the incomplete third round included]
Anthony Njokuani def. Bart Palaszewski via TKO, 0:27 of round 2

(Props: MMA Mania)

In part one of a new video feature from the WEC, bantamweight king Miguel Torres gives us a look at his fight preparation, his family (including his father, the true originator of the Torres Mexi-Mullet), and the sacrifices he makes to guide the next generation of martial artists. Torres will make his next belt defense at WEC 40 (April 5th, Chicago), where he'll be welcoming Shooto/GCM standout Takeya Mizugaki to the U.S.

Below: On a recent episode of Sports Science, Fedor Emelianenko out-choked a python, then choked-out the show's host. ("You'll be okay, don't worry," says Fedor, trying in vain to console the human test dummy.) It's an interesting look at the mechanincs behind how fighters get choked out, and how little effort it really takes to make that happen. For the beginning of Fedor's segment click here. Sorry for the video quality; please turn up your sound.

(Props: TheGarv)