Aldo vs Faber

For the first time in company history, the WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting) is coming to pay per view. Tomorrow night, April 24th, Featherweight Champ Jose Aldo will defend his belt against WEC legend Urijah Faber. The WEC is the sister company to the UFC and hosts events predominantly in the smaller weight classes of MMA. The biggest weight class in the WEC is its Lightweight division (155lbs), which also happens to be the smallest weight class in older brother UFC. The featherweight division (145lbs), and bantamweight (135lbs) divisions are not present in the UFC and are unique to WEC. One of the main reasons Zuffa (the parent company of both) keeps the two organizations seperate.

Although not as exposed as the UFC, the WEC is still packed full of action. Much like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather have shown boxing fans, tomorrow nights PPV will show viewers these little guys can fight as well. In my opinion lightweight/featherweight fights are usually more exciting and explosive as compared to Light Heavyweight/etc, and Zuffa could not have picked a better time to showcase this as the main event pits two extrordinary talents.

Defending the belt is phenom Jose Aldo, a guy who hasn't lost in over five years. Although this is his first title defense, don't look for Jose to be shaken by the pressure. After dismantling the entire featherweight division on his way to un sitting champion Mike Brown, the MMA world took notice. With his incredible speed and vicious knockouts, Aldo has been a machine. A black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Aldo hasn't even let his ground game shine through, for his last six fights have all ended by horrendous TKO. To make it short and get to the point, Jose Aldo is a very bad man, and as a kid coming from the slums of Brazil, is not looking to lose his belt any time soon.

Facing Aldo is what you can consider the face of the WEC, the "California Kid" Urijah Faber. Faber, the featherweight legend seeks to reclaim his spot atop the division once again. After suffering his first title loss in five defenses to Mike Brown in 2008, Faber has been hungry to regain what is his. After choking out former UFC lightweight champ Jens Pulver, Faber got his rematch against Brown. During the fight, Urijah ended up breaking bones in his right hand, and dislocated his left thumb. When most fighters would have packed up and threw in the towel, Urijah kept going relying solely on getting close enough for kicks and elbow strikes. Although losing a decision, Faber gained respect. Anybody who still fights with broken hands has to have a ton of heart, and with Urijah Faber, he is all heart.

Eventually Brown lost the belt to Aldo, and after long rehabilitation for his hands, Faber returned better than ever with a submission victory over Raphael Assuncao back in January. Which brings us to Saturday night.


Faber recently stated "I don't care about the belt, I only care about being the best in the world. Right now Jose Aldo is the best in the world, and if I want to regain that title, I have to rip it from him."

That is what Faber will try to do, as the best that has ever fought in the division will go toe to toe with the divisions newest phenom. Ironically, Jose Aldo wanted the fight in Sacramento California's Arco Arena. Sac Town is the home of Faber, and everytime he fights at Arco its nothing but love. If that doesn't say anything about Jose Aldo, then I don't know what does. No matter what though, fight fans are going to be treated for something special tomorrow night during WEC's coming out party. Also on the card is a fight for the Lightweight belt as Ben Henderson defends against Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. You can catch the prelim fights on Spike TV, and be sure to watch the main card on PPV. Again, its going to be a great night of fights.