In the second of two mixed martial arts title fights in Sacramento tonight, Urijah Faber defeated Jens Pulver in a five-round battle to retain his WEC featherweight belt. The conventional wisdom heading into the fight was that Faber wanted to fight on the ground and Pulver wanted to have a boxing match, but as it turned out, Faber dominated much of the fight on his feet. Faber hit Pulver with several good strikes in the second round and at one point appeared to be close to finishing him, but Pulver regained his composure and stayed in it.
In the third round Faber did serious damage with left hooks and elbows, but he still couldn't finish Pulver off when they went to the ground, and the fourth was much the same. By the fifth it was clear that Faber just needed to hang on to win a decision, and he did, winning 50-45 on one judge's card and 50-44 on the other two.
Faber is almost universally recognized as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and nothing happened to change that tonight. Faber improved his record to 21-1, while Pulver fell to 22-9-1 with the first loss of his career in the 145-pound weight class. It was a signature win for Faber, one of the sport's best athletes.
Previously on FanHouse:
Miguel Torres Beats Yoshiro Maeda
Are You Ready for Some MMA? Hard-Core Fans Will Prefer WEC to EliteXC
WEC: Miguel Torres Ready for a Test Against Yoshiro Maeda
Don't Forget WEC: Urijah Faber-Jens Pulver
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