SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Saturday night, April 24, World Extreme Cagefighting returns to Arco Arena for “WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber“. The event will mark the WEC’s first ever pay-per-view broadcast. Up until this point, their events have been televised on the VERSUS sports cable network.
Headlining the card is WEC poster-boy and the most well-known representative of the organization, Urijah Faber (23-3). He will be taking on the current WEC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo (16-1).
Faber, known as “The California Kid”, is a young athletic and exciting fighter who gained the WEC Featherweight Title in March 2006, and when VERSUS began broadcasting WEC fights live in June 2007, it was Faber who viewers would most remember.
Between 2006-2008, Faber successfully defended his title five times, ending four fights by submission, and one by unanimous decision.
At WEC 36, in Nov. 2008, Faber ran into a brick wall named Mike Thomas Brown (23-5), who knocked him out in the second round to become the new WEC Featherweight Champion. It was only the second loss of Faber’s career.
Fans had come to view Faber as practically unbeatable, but Brown looked indestructible. If Brown could do that to Faber, most thought he would likely hold the belt for quite some time.
In March 2009, Brown successfully defended his title for the first time by submitting Leonard Garcia (13-5-1) in less than two minutes.
In the meantime, Faber had won a submission victory at WEC 36 over MMA legend and former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver (22-13-1). At the time, Pulver’s only loss at featherweight was to Faber about seven months prior at WEC 34, and he was still thought to be at least somewhat relevant at the weight class.
Whatever Pulver was or was not, he at least served the purpose of earning Faber a rematch with Brown, in the hopes he could regain the featherweight title.
In June 2009, at WEC 41, Faber got his rematch with Mike Thomas Brown, who had taken “The California Kid’s” title less than a year earlier. Faber ended up breaking his right hand and incapacitating his left in the first round, and had to fight the remainder of the bout using elbows and kicks and defending himself as best he could. Faber lost a unanimous decision, but survived the fight and won the hearts of the fans.
While Faber and Brown had been busy winning titles and getting rematches there was another young featherweight who had been rising up the ranks. His name was Jose Aldo (16-1). He made his WEC debut in June 2008 at WEC 34, and won five straight fights by knockout.
In Mike Thomas Brown’s third title defense, he was matched against Aldo at WEC 44 in Nov. 2009. It was Aldo’s sixth fight within the organization, and at 1:20 of the second round, Aldo knocked out Brown to become the new WEC Featherweight Champion.
Now, once again, Urijah Faber will get a shot at the title. This Saturday night, April 24, Jose Aldo will seek to defend his featherweight title for the first time since becoming champion. He will face Faber in his hometown of Sacramento, Calif.
Because of the way he has been finishing fights, and because he has not lost since 2005 (his only loss), Aldo is considered the favorite going into the fight. However, both fighters are well-rounded,with Aldo having the advantage on the feet, and Faber with the edge on the ground.
Stay close to ProMMAnow.com throughout the week, as we will be providing live video streams to the “WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber” pre-fight press-conference, weigh-ins, and post-fight press conference in our UFC Room, and we will also provide live results and play-by-play commentary of the fights Saturday night.