THE CANADIAN PRESS
LAS VEGAS — Dominick Cruz successfully defended his bantamweight title with a tough split-decision victory over Joseph Benavidez at WEC 50 on Wednesday night.
Cruz looked like he might be in trouble after he was tagged with a knee in the fourth round that opened up a nasty gash on the bridge of his nose.
But the San Diego native came back strong in the fifth, evading the brunt of Benavidez’s attacks before taking him down and controlling the end of the round en route to a win in his first title defence.
"I just concentrated on doing what I do best, staying hard to hit," said Cruz (16-1), still bleeding and with both ears visibly swollen in a post-fight interview. "Obviously it didn’t work out too well on all the exchanges," he added with a grin.
Benavidez, from Las Cruces, N.M., was clearly the crowd favourite, drawing cheers when he hit the elusive Cruz. At one point the fans broke into a full "Ben-a-vid-ez" chant.
The five-foot-four Benavidez (12-2) was often the more aggressive fighter, but Cruz was able to use his speed and four-inch height advantage to control much of the fight.
Cruz also handed Benavidez his only other loss, a unanimous decision in an August 2009 bout that earned fight of the night honours.
"Benavidez is a great competitor, I give him all the props in the world," Cruz said. "He didn’t fall into the trash talk of a lot of people. He’s an honourable fighter and I respect him in every way."
In the undercard, lightweight Anthony (Showtime) Pettis (10-1) defeated Shane Roller (8-3) by submission with just 10 seconds remaining in the match. Pettis rolled out of Roller’s guillotine attempt, then locked on a triangle choke with time running out in the third and final round.
Pettis lived up to his nickname, breaking out several crowd-pleasing acrobatic kicks that seemed to miss as often as they hit. At one point in the second round he broke out of one of Roller’s holds by using the cage to push into a back somersault.
Featherweight Chad (Money) Mendes (8-0) remained undefeated with a unanimous decision win over Cub Swanson (14-4).
Mendes fought a methodical match, committing few mistakes, and seemed content to control Swanson on the ground for much of the fight.
Scott (Young Guns) Jorgensen (11-3) defeated British fighter Brad (One Punch) Pickett (20-5) by unanimous decision in a bantamweight bout.
The match started with an fierce exchange of strikes that saw Pickett lose his mouthguard twice before Jorgensen took control by implementing a superior ground attack.
Veteran lightweight Bart (Bartimus) Palaszewski (34-13) defeated Zach Micklewright (9-2) by TKO in the second round.
Palaszewski sent Micklewright reeling into the cage with a right knee to the abdomen. Palaszewski made the most of the opening, following up with a flurry of punches before sending Micklewright to the canvas with a stiff right to the jaw.
