The Sports Informant

Boy, is my face red. After writing a blog this morning about the greatness that is Sacramento Mixed Martial Arts fighter Urijah Faber, he was knocked out in the first round of his WEC Featherweight championship fight in Florida tonight.

It’s only because I believe he can bounce back that I stay optimistic. He was the champ for a reason. Tonight he didn’t show why.

During the fight, I typed up a play-by-play, hoping to display every move of another dominating Faber performance. The glory was all Mike Brown’s, though. Just read below.

Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown, Nov. 5, 2008

Faber enters to “California Love” by Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur. Couldn’t pick a better shout out to home. “From Oakland to Sactown, the Bay Area and back down, Cali is where we put our mack down, give me love!”

Brown looks nervous, but ready. Faber looks relaxed and like he’s having a good time, giving high-fives to several Florida fans on his way in. I hope he’s not taking Brown lightly, then again, Faber doesn’t do that. He just loves what he does, and it shows.

During Faber’s intro, the announcer said, “Fighting out of Sacramento, California…” to which Faber turns to the camera and shouts through his mouthpiece, “Sactown!” Hell yeah. Time to represent.

Round 1:

Faber starts with a front kick, it doesn’t land. A kick to the ribs graces Brown. Brown looks like he wants to box. Faber throws three punches and clinches, Brown throws a knee. They break.

Jitters should be gone now. Time to fight. Faber throws a head kick, Brown blocks. Brown attacks with a few punches and pushes Urijah against the cage, grabs a single leg, but Urijah pushes off and throws a knee, then slips and falls to thr ground, he gets up quickly. He throws a sneaky elbow, but Brown catches Faber in the chin with a right hand. It sends Faber to the canvas stunned.

Brown immediately jumps all over Faber, knowing he can get the ref to end the fight if Faber doesn’t defend himself from a barrage of punches. Faber, on his hands and knees facing away from Brown, sits still taking punches to the side of the right side of his face. Without movement from Faber, the ref calls the fight, which gives Brown the title.

During the announcement of the winner, Faber looked into the camera again and humbly said, “Sorry guys. Hi mom.”

Analysis:

It’s Faber’s risk-taking in the MMA world that makes him one of the most exciting fighters to watch. The chances he takes to gain an advantage in a battle have time and time again earned him impressive victories. Tonight, it’s what cost him the fight.

Faber’s boxing against Jens Pulver in June looked top notch. Tonight, he looked rattled by Brown’s punches, even though few of them ever landed. Had Faber taken the fight to the ground and used his world class wrestling to gain an advantage, I believe he could have taken over and ultimately won.

Brown had nothing to lose in this fight and everything to gain. He became the risk taker tonight by letting his hands go, attacking Faber consistently with flurries of punches. Faber went on the defense, and when he thought he could sneak in an attack of his own with a fancy elbow, he simply got caught with one powerful hit.

It’s going to happen to a guy who has lost only one fight his entire career. Hopefully it’s a lesson learned for Faber, because you can guarantee there will be a rematch. Don’t expect Faber to be all smiles next time.

Sidebar:

Brown left the cage in obvious pain, being looked at by the doctor before slowly walking out of the arena. The doctor put pressure on his ribs, which caused Brown to wince, indicating a rib injury, and not a small one. I wonder what would have happened if the fight went another round. Was the injury from a Faber kick, or from Brown’s celebration after the belt was strapped around his waist? Either way, it doesn’t matter now. He’ll have plenty of time to heal before he has to give up the hardware to its rightful owner.