Faber Readies Himself for Lil’ Evil
Jason Probst May 26, 2008
"(Olympic wrestlers) just didn't put out. Didn't put out the
effort to dominate and win -- to be great. It was more of a
strategic type of match all the time. One point here. One point
there. Cat and mouse. Instead of a damn dog eating them."
-- Dan Gable, "A Season on the Mat"
Come June 1, Urijah Faber (Pictures) tangles with Jens Pulver (Pictures) on the biggest stage of his career. In his hometown. Putting his World Extreme Cagefighting belt on the line. And he's taking on a legend, to boot.
But for Faber, when the fight starts and he collides with his most
accomplished foe yet, "The California Kid" is the only one who'll
really know what he'll be doing on a second-to-second basis.
And that's just how he likes it.
"He's got some dangerous striking. I just kinda take it as it goes," Faber said. "You never know what to expect from a guy until you're standing right in front of him. Basically, it's who's going to impose their will. Applying your game has a lot to do with it. I don't want a clean one to the jaw. But other than that, it's business as usual."
Business has been good lately for Faber, who made four WEC title defenses in 2007, riding the rising wave of the sport's newfound mainstream success while helping build the WEC as its star attraction. He capped off the year with a second-round submission of Jeff Curran (Pictures), whose 40-fight ledger is dotted with a who's who of opponents, many of them much bigger than Faber.
And he beat Curran after near disaster in the first round. Mounted early in the bout, Faber rode out the round and battled his way out of a rear-naked choke that seemed inevitable from Curran, a jiu-jitsu black belt and respected submissions whiz, except to those who've seen Faber turn the tide on previous occasions.
In the second, Faber roughed up Curran with in-close striking, then closed the deal with a guillotine choke. It was over nearly as quickly as the momentum had shifted.
It's that kind of all-in mentality that makes Faber fun to watch, and, at times, seem like an unstoppable force, given his penchant for both escaping bad positions and punishing opponents with cruel accuracy when given the slightest opening. The software in his brain makes on-the-fly adjustments -- witness the leg trip Curran executed on him in the opening moments to take him down, leading into the lengthy choke battle where Faber stalemated him. In the second round, Curran tried the exact same takedown, from the same angle as the first, but Faber easily stymied it and ended the fight moments later.
Against Pulver, Faber faces a challenger with a wicked left hand, upper-body strength to match his own, and a guy who's traveled enough hard roads to make him a veteran's veteran.
"You know, I always train for five rounds. I'm not really changing it up too much," he said when asked how long the Pulver bout might go. "I think it's possible it could go a lot further, but it's also possible it could end quickly. I'm (sparring) with lefties and getting a feel for that."
Pulver and Faber have had a relatively subdued prefight buildup, somewhat tame compared to his animus for Curran, who made no bones about questioning Faber's credentials.
"He's somebody that's been in the sport a long time. I just kinda call it like I see it," Faber explained of the lack of verbal sparring between he and Pulver. "I'm not a guy to talk trash. Unless I really have something to say, I won't say it. Jens definitely has my respect. He's a great fighter."
A walk-on at U.C. Davis, Faber set the all-time career record for wins there, then turned pro in 2003. There are wrestlers with better collegiate pedigrees, jiu-jitsu guys with credentials he'll never have and plenty of strikers who'll score more knockouts on the feet. But few fighters in the game today put it all together as well as Faber, who intrinsically understands the subtle transitions between takedowns, positioning, scrambling and letting the blows fly, particularly when he has an opponent on his back.
He has an intrinsic knack for overwhelming people, and may be as physically imposing as any 145-pounder in the game.
Faber's application of these skills can be dizzying at times, at least to the casual eye, and even to the more knowledgeable fight enthusiast. He flows from one position to another, exploding out of potentially compromising ones, forever plying his advantages and exploiting them with ruthless efficiency. Sometimes he backtracks and changes techniques in mid-move.
It is as though he is a pianist ripping through the music at triple speed, hitting each note correctly, but flaunting the conventional wisdom of how the piece should be played.
And in MMA, setting a breakneck pace is the quickest way to break the opponent's will.
That approach has made Faber, with a gaudy 20-1 ledger, one of the game's new stars. His style is a rare combination of fan-friendly and highly skilled, enough to make new viewers come back for more while also satisfying purists.
Yet it's easy to overlook Faber's technical proficiencies for the fact that he seems to end fights with such vicious finishing panache. Take the eye-socket-busting elbow he dropped on Joe Pearson (Pictures) at last year's WEC title defense -- it traveled about a foot.
Or the three chokehold wins that followed against Chance Farrar (Pictures), Dominick Cruz and Curran, finishing moves that ended matches with slam-bang abruptness. For a former wrestler, he's doing pretty good with the submissions and also spent time in Hawaii recently training with UFC lightweight boss B.J. Penn (Pictures). His developing standup game may be underrated as well for the simple fact that nobody's been able to keep him on his feet for long. You may want to, but Faber is there, in your face, flitting and feinting, forcing the issue, and suddenly, he's got you on the mat -- water to a shark.
Pulver may have the goods to turn the trick, but even then, Faber may still have some surprises, according to training partner Charlie Valencia (Pictures).
Valencia, who fights on the June 1 undercard against Cruz, also fought Faber in May 2006, losing via first-round TKO. Since then, he's dropped to 135 and been battling the bantams in the WEC.
"Urijah's physically strong, but I think his mental strength is where he beats a lot of people," said Valencia. "He's very mentally strong. There's not any position he hasn't been in and he's not aware of what to do. A lot of people think his strength is his wrestling. People who don‘t train with him think he's a straight-up wrestler, but he does everything well."
Faber's standup is probably the least-utilized aspect of his game. Typically he'll throw a strike or two before closing the distance and getting the fight to the ground. But while not known for standup prowess, he commits to it like he does everything else -- hard.
Valencia said that the champion's game has been improving dramatically in that area as well.
"His standup has improved tremendously since last time I came up here. I don't understand how people can get like that," Valencia added. "He's a phenomenal athlete."
But Faber's strengths may have met their equal here. Pulver spent years fighting bigger men, is exceptionally strong at 145 and honed his skills in the hardcore environment of Team Miletich, a place where semi-weekly beatings are doled out among pros that read like a who's-who of MMA. You may puke, cry, swear you'll never come back, but if you can hang there, you can fight anywhere.
Pulver also dabbled in pro boxing in 2004, going 4-0 with three knockouts. He's fought in Japan and beat B.J. Penn by decision in 2002 when he was a 3-1 underdog despite being champion (Pulver lost via submission in the long-awaited Penn rematch last year). Pulver made quick work of Cub Swanson (Pictures) -- a 10-1 contender at the time -- in his WEC debut in December, winning via choke in 35 seconds.
He has been bounced around and written off on many occasions, yet always comes back. And with the emergence of the 145 division as a viable entity, it's as though Pulver finally has solid footing after the long road he's traveled. With his powerful striking and solid grappling, he could be the exact type of guy to out-Faber Faber.
UFC lightweight Cole Miller (Pictures) figures it's a pick-em fight.
"Clearly Urijah's strength is his ability to fight his best consistently. The guy finds himself in bad situations in every fight and always gets out and comes out on top to get the win. Jens' strength is that he himself is undefeated at 145, but has fought many times at 155 and higher against some of the top competition in the deepest division in the world -- lightweight. He won't have a problem competing with Urijah Faber at featherweight," Miller said. "However, I do not know who will win. I think that you can never count the champion out, and simply because he's the defending champ, I give Faber a 51 percent chance to Pulver's 49 percent. However, if Urijah didn't wield the belt, I'd say it was 50-50."
That little extra something.
Champions find it, dig it out in a crisis.
On June 1, whoever leaves with the WEC featherweight belt may be the guy who does just that.
Sherdog.com has added Jason Probst to its staff of writers. Probst has covered MMA since 2001 and has freelanced extensively for various publications, including ESPN, Entrepreneur, Sacramento News & Review, Maxboxing and others. He is based in Northern California.
-- Dan Gable, "A Season on the Mat"
Come June 1, Urijah Faber (Pictures) tangles with Jens Pulver (Pictures) on the biggest stage of his career. In his hometown. Putting his World Extreme Cagefighting belt on the line. And he's taking on a legend, to boot.
Advertisement
And that's just how he likes it.
As fans at Sacramento's Arco Arena are served up the first
nationally televised 145-pound super fight, Faber knows he's in
against a dangerous guy in "Lil' Evil." Pulver, unbeaten at 145,
spent much of his career tackling the elite of the 155-pound
division.
"He's got some dangerous striking. I just kinda take it as it goes," Faber said. "You never know what to expect from a guy until you're standing right in front of him. Basically, it's who's going to impose their will. Applying your game has a lot to do with it. I don't want a clean one to the jaw. But other than that, it's business as usual."
Business has been good lately for Faber, who made four WEC title defenses in 2007, riding the rising wave of the sport's newfound mainstream success while helping build the WEC as its star attraction. He capped off the year with a second-round submission of Jeff Curran (Pictures), whose 40-fight ledger is dotted with a who's who of opponents, many of them much bigger than Faber.
And he beat Curran after near disaster in the first round. Mounted early in the bout, Faber rode out the round and battled his way out of a rear-naked choke that seemed inevitable from Curran, a jiu-jitsu black belt and respected submissions whiz, except to those who've seen Faber turn the tide on previous occasions.
In the second, Faber roughed up Curran with in-close striking, then closed the deal with a guillotine choke. It was over nearly as quickly as the momentum had shifted.
It's that kind of all-in mentality that makes Faber fun to watch, and, at times, seem like an unstoppable force, given his penchant for both escaping bad positions and punishing opponents with cruel accuracy when given the slightest opening. The software in his brain makes on-the-fly adjustments -- witness the leg trip Curran executed on him in the opening moments to take him down, leading into the lengthy choke battle where Faber stalemated him. In the second round, Curran tried the exact same takedown, from the same angle as the first, but Faber easily stymied it and ended the fight moments later.
Against Pulver, Faber faces a challenger with a wicked left hand, upper-body strength to match his own, and a guy who's traveled enough hard roads to make him a veteran's veteran.
"You know, I always train for five rounds. I'm not really changing it up too much," he said when asked how long the Pulver bout might go. "I think it's possible it could go a lot further, but it's also possible it could end quickly. I'm (sparring) with lefties and getting a feel for that."
Pulver and Faber have had a relatively subdued prefight buildup, somewhat tame compared to his animus for Curran, who made no bones about questioning Faber's credentials.
"He's somebody that's been in the sport a long time. I just kinda call it like I see it," Faber explained of the lack of verbal sparring between he and Pulver. "I'm not a guy to talk trash. Unless I really have something to say, I won't say it. Jens definitely has my respect. He's a great fighter."
A walk-on at U.C. Davis, Faber set the all-time career record for wins there, then turned pro in 2003. There are wrestlers with better collegiate pedigrees, jiu-jitsu guys with credentials he'll never have and plenty of strikers who'll score more knockouts on the feet. But few fighters in the game today put it all together as well as Faber, who intrinsically understands the subtle transitions between takedowns, positioning, scrambling and letting the blows fly, particularly when he has an opponent on his back.
He has an intrinsic knack for overwhelming people, and may be as physically imposing as any 145-pounder in the game.
Faber's application of these skills can be dizzying at times, at least to the casual eye, and even to the more knowledgeable fight enthusiast. He flows from one position to another, exploding out of potentially compromising ones, forever plying his advantages and exploiting them with ruthless efficiency. Sometimes he backtracks and changes techniques in mid-move.
It is as though he is a pianist ripping through the music at triple speed, hitting each note correctly, but flaunting the conventional wisdom of how the piece should be played.
And in MMA, setting a breakneck pace is the quickest way to break the opponent's will.
That approach has made Faber, with a gaudy 20-1 ledger, one of the game's new stars. His style is a rare combination of fan-friendly and highly skilled, enough to make new viewers come back for more while also satisfying purists.
Yet it's easy to overlook Faber's technical proficiencies for the fact that he seems to end fights with such vicious finishing panache. Take the eye-socket-busting elbow he dropped on Joe Pearson (Pictures) at last year's WEC title defense -- it traveled about a foot.
Or the three chokehold wins that followed against Chance Farrar (Pictures), Dominick Cruz and Curran, finishing moves that ended matches with slam-bang abruptness. For a former wrestler, he's doing pretty good with the submissions and also spent time in Hawaii recently training with UFC lightweight boss B.J. Penn (Pictures). His developing standup game may be underrated as well for the simple fact that nobody's been able to keep him on his feet for long. You may want to, but Faber is there, in your face, flitting and feinting, forcing the issue, and suddenly, he's got you on the mat -- water to a shark.
Pulver may have the goods to turn the trick, but even then, Faber may still have some surprises, according to training partner Charlie Valencia (Pictures).
Valencia, who fights on the June 1 undercard against Cruz, also fought Faber in May 2006, losing via first-round TKO. Since then, he's dropped to 135 and been battling the bantams in the WEC.
"Urijah's physically strong, but I think his mental strength is where he beats a lot of people," said Valencia. "He's very mentally strong. There's not any position he hasn't been in and he's not aware of what to do. A lot of people think his strength is his wrestling. People who don‘t train with him think he's a straight-up wrestler, but he does everything well."
Faber's standup is probably the least-utilized aspect of his game. Typically he'll throw a strike or two before closing the distance and getting the fight to the ground. But while not known for standup prowess, he commits to it like he does everything else -- hard.
Valencia said that the champion's game has been improving dramatically in that area as well.
"His standup has improved tremendously since last time I came up here. I don't understand how people can get like that," Valencia added. "He's a phenomenal athlete."
But Faber's strengths may have met their equal here. Pulver spent years fighting bigger men, is exceptionally strong at 145 and honed his skills in the hardcore environment of Team Miletich, a place where semi-weekly beatings are doled out among pros that read like a who's-who of MMA. You may puke, cry, swear you'll never come back, but if you can hang there, you can fight anywhere.
Pulver also dabbled in pro boxing in 2004, going 4-0 with three knockouts. He's fought in Japan and beat B.J. Penn by decision in 2002 when he was a 3-1 underdog despite being champion (Pulver lost via submission in the long-awaited Penn rematch last year). Pulver made quick work of Cub Swanson (Pictures) -- a 10-1 contender at the time -- in his WEC debut in December, winning via choke in 35 seconds.
He has been bounced around and written off on many occasions, yet always comes back. And with the emergence of the 145 division as a viable entity, it's as though Pulver finally has solid footing after the long road he's traveled. With his powerful striking and solid grappling, he could be the exact type of guy to out-Faber Faber.
UFC lightweight Cole Miller (Pictures) figures it's a pick-em fight.
"Clearly Urijah's strength is his ability to fight his best consistently. The guy finds himself in bad situations in every fight and always gets out and comes out on top to get the win. Jens' strength is that he himself is undefeated at 145, but has fought many times at 155 and higher against some of the top competition in the deepest division in the world -- lightweight. He won't have a problem competing with Urijah Faber at featherweight," Miller said. "However, I do not know who will win. I think that you can never count the champion out, and simply because he's the defending champ, I give Faber a 51 percent chance to Pulver's 49 percent. However, if Urijah didn't wield the belt, I'd say it was 50-50."
That little extra something.
Champions find it, dig it out in a crisis.
On June 1, whoever leaves with the WEC featherweight belt may be the guy who does just that.
Sherdog.com has added Jason Probst to its staff of writers. Probst has covered MMA since 2001 and has freelanced extensively for various publications, including ESPN, Entrepreneur, Sacramento News & Review, Maxboxing and others. He is based in Northern California.
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