By 
Though he appears to be quiet and reserved, his quick rise through the ranks of the world’s best 135 – pound fighters should not be taken lightly nor be mistaken.
When he’s not training for an upcoming title fight, WEC Bantamweight Champion Brian Bowles can often be found sitting on the front row at Wild Bill’s Fight Night or other Atlanta area venues ‘laughing it up’, ‘whooping & hollering’ and supporting his fellow teammates from Hard Core Gym in Athens, GA. He encourages his teammates, poses for fan photos and interacts with the crowd… From my observation, Brian is just one of us. He’s a fan of MMA and he’s a man who loves what he does for a living and loves his fans.
It’s obvious that fighting is serious business for Brian Bowles. You can tell that he loves the training, the lifestyle, the physicality, the people, the adrenaline rush, and everything that goes along with the sport.
It’s been an honor to watch Brian as he has come up through the ranks. I watched as he was fighting as an amateur and now seeing him fighting with the best and being counted among the top pound for pound fighters in the world.
Brian began his pro MMA fighting career in Duluth, GA at Wild Bill’s Fight Night in 2006 where he won a submission victory over his opponent Tim Honeycutt.
Beginning with 2 very impressive stoppages and a very stunning 3-0 record, Brian made his way into WEC and hasn’t stopped fighting yet.
Brian’s first fight appearance in the WEC was at WEC 28 against Charlie Valencia, whom he submitted with a rear naked choke in 2:33 of the 2nd round.
Currently, his pro MMA record stands at 8-0. Of Brian’s 8 Professional wins 3 have been TKO’s including his TKO win over Miguel Torres.
Many people believe that Brian delivered a ‘Lucky Punch’ to TKO Miguel Torres at WEC 42. Considered the underdog when he fought Miguel Torres, Brian now looks back and says; “I don’t exactly know what a lucky punch is”.
As a huge fan of Brian Bowles, I must say: I don’t know what Lucky Punch is either, or if I even believe in that theory. A punch is a punch. If you stand in front of a punch at the wrong time, you get hit. The punch hits you the right way then you get knocked out. Period.
Lucky Punch or not, Brian is now the WEC Bantamweight Champion (8-0 MMA, 5-0 WEC).
Brian originally hails of West Virginia, thus fighting to defend his title in Ohio will be a pretty big deal. Family, friends, and fans can literally make the short ‘jump’ across the river to see him fight in Columbus, Ohio. He expects he’ll have a good number of people there to support him.
Brian will defend his title against Dominick Cruz (14-1 MMA, 4-1 WEC) on Saturday, March 6, 2010 at WEC 47 in Columbus, Ohio at Nationwide Arena.
Since both Bowles and Cruz have similar fighting styles of The Boxer/Wrestler, expectations are that the two will likely ‘slug it out’. With that in mind, I don’t expect there will be any Lucky Punch talk on Sunday morning.
