WEC 45 Predictions

WEC 45 brings us two bantamweight fights; Benevidez vs. Yahya and Mizugaki vs. Jorgensen and two lightweight fights; Njokuani vs. Horodecki and Cerrone vs. Ratcliff. Here are my predictions on who will come out on top.

Takeya Mizugaki vs. Scott Jorgensen - Bantamweight
Takeya Mizugaki will have his third fight with the World Extreme Cagefighting promotion Saturday, December 19. He has most recently come off of a split decision victory over Jeff Curran at WEC 42. In his last eight fights Mizugaki has only lost once, to former Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres. The fight with Torres took place last April at WEC 40 and was for the Bantamweight belt. While Mizugaki lost, he was the first person to take Torres all the way to decision since 2005. Out of Mizugaki's twelve fights he has only lost three times, and only once was he finished. This happened late in 2006 when he lost by technical knockout in the second round to Kenji Osawa. Mizugaki is known for his striking ability, and even with his recent loss is still a serious contender to the Bantamweight title.

Scott Jorgensen is returning to the cage after a first round technical knockout over Noah Thomas at WEC 43. Jorgensen is known for his strong wrestling and great conditioning. He has only been finished once, back in 2006 by an armbar submission from Joe Jesser. A victory against Takeya Mizugaki could lead Jorgensen to a title shot against current Bantamweight champion, Brian Bowles.

Both Mizugaki and Jorgensen have proven to be effective in the later rounds of fights, so expect this one to have the potential to go three rounds. But in the end I give the fight to Takeya Mizugaki by a technical knockout.

Joseph Benavidez vs. Rani Yahya - Bantamweight
Joseph Benavidez recently suffered his first loss after an impressive ten win streak at WEC 42. WEC 42 was his third fight in the promotion where he fought top Bantamweight contender, Dominick Cruz. After fighting the full three rounds against Cruz, Benavidez eventually lost by decision. Benavidez often submits his opponents and has very good conditioning.

Since joining with World Extreme Cagefighting has held a record of 4-1, giving up his only loss to Chase Beebe in WEC 30 by unanimous decision. Yahya's most recent fight was against John Hosman at WEC 42. Yahya was able to get Hosman to submit to a north-south choke in the first round. This is just an example of Yahya's strong submissions. If Yahya wins this fight it will put him in a top contender position.

While both Benavidez is talented at submissions, Yahya is much better at them. I believe this will end up being the deciding factor in the fight, and therefore I give the fight to Rani Yahya by submission.

Anthony Njokuani vs. Chris Horodecki - Lightweights
Anthony Njokuani is coming into WEC 45 with known knockout power. His current record is 11-2, with six of those won by knockout. Njokuani's last two fights with the WEC have won Knockout of the Night. While he might not be about to knockout the winner of the Jamie Varner/Ben Henderson fight for the Lightweight belt, he is well on his way.

This is Chris Horodecki's first fight with WEC after spending just under two years at the IFL. He has an impressive record of thirteen wins and one loss. I never followed the IFL so I don't know much about Horodecki, except that he sports an impressive record.

It may not be fair to make a prediction due to my lack of knowledge about Chris Horodecki, but I'm still going to have to give the fight to Anthony Njokuani for his knockout abilities.

Donald Cerrone vs. Ed Ratcliff - Lightweights
Donald Cerrone, known for his strong striking ability, is coming off of his second loss on his professional record. He last fought Ben Henderson at WEC 43 for the Interim Lightweight belt. His only other professional loss was against current champion Lightweight champion, Jamie Varner. Both of his losses went all the way to decision. Cerrone has only won one fight by decision, the other nine by submission.

Ed Ratcliff is going be fighting his fifth fight with the WEC promotion at WEC 45. Ratcliff currently has a record of seven wins and one loss, which was to Marcus Hicks by submission. Ratcliff's most recent fight was against Phil Cardella, who he won against by unanimous decision. Ratcliff has strong striking with a knockout tendency.

My prediction is that Donald Cerrone will win by a submission over Ed Ratcliff, probably in the second round.

Sources:
WEC, "WEC 45 CERRONE vs RATCLIFF." WEC.com
Sherdog, "Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone." Sherdog.com
Sherdog, "Ed "9mm" Ratcliff." Sherdog.com
Sherdog, "Anthony Njokuani." Sherdog.com
Sherdog, "Chris "The Polish Hammer" Horodecki." Sherdog.com
Sherdog, "Joseph Benavidez." Sherdog.com
Sherdog, "Rani Yahya." Sherdog.com
Sherdog, "Takeya Mizugaki." Sherdog.com
Sherdog, "Scott Jorgensen." Sherdog.com