WEC Announce Chicago Card - MMAUniverse.com

On Sunday, April 5, World Extreme Cagefighting takes its maiden voyage to the Windy City of Chicago, and it’s bringing the best bantamweights in the world to the UIC Pavilion for World Extreme Cagefighting 40: Torres vs Bowles. In the main event, WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres returns to fight in the Midwest for the first time in two years to face the biggest challenge to his crown yet in unbeaten Brian Bowles, and Island Lake, Illinois’ Jeff Curran looks to make his case for a shot at the belt when he battles undefeated phenom Joseph Benavidez.

Tickets for World Extreme Cagefighting go on sale at 10 a.m. CT Saturday, February 14 and will be priced at $45.00, $75.00, $125.00 and $175.00. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to WEC newsletter subscribers Thursday, February 12 starting at noon CT. To access this presale, users must register for the WEC newsletter through wec.tv.

World Extreme Cagefighting will be televised live across the USA on VERSUS beginning at 9:00pm ET/6:00pm PT. All live WEC events are presented in Hi-Definition (HD) where available.

Universally regarded as one of mixed martial arts’ premier fighters, pound for pound, East Chicago, Indiana’s Miguel Torres is a dynamic performer who is deadly wherever the fight takes him. Owner of the WEC bantamweight championship since February of 2008, the 28-year old Torres has since defended his title with spectacular stoppages of Yoshiro Maeda and Manny Tapia, and with a third defense over Brian Bowles, he will continue to cement his position on top of the MMA world.

Athens, Georgia’s Brian Bowles has taken an old school route to his bantamweight title shot, cleaning out all contenders in his path and leaving no questions about his status as the number one contender at 135 pounds.

in the WEC, the well-rounded 28-year old has finished Charlie Valencia, Marcos Galvao, Damacio Page and Will Ribeiro to get his shot at the belt, and now he’s looking to finish off the king on April 5th.

A longtime favorite of the Midwest fight scene, former WEC featherweight contender and title challenger Jeff "Big Frog" Curran has long had his sights set on Miguel Torres, and he has even dropped down to the bantamweight division to chase his local rival. There is business to take care of for both men first though, and for Curran, that means his clash with Joseph Benavidez on April 5th. So expect the 30-year old Curran to come out with guns blazing in order to move forward in the crowded bantamweight division.

The 24-year old Joseph Benavidez came to the WEC last December with a lot of hype due to his raw talent and impressive previous performances, and he lived up to the expectations with a big win over Danny Martinez. Now the stablemate of former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber is ready for the next step in his career, and for him, there would be nothing better than to add the name Jeff Curran to his victims list.