MMA in the middle of the week means another Wednesday night WEC special on the Versus network loaded with fistic action galore.

This time around we get the return of Urijah Faber as he leads the charge for featherweight legitimacy, a rematch between Chael Sonnen and Paulo Filho as the UFC gets set to annex the WEC middleweight division and plenty of critical tilts sure to deliver that midweek fight fix we all crave.

So strap in junkies and remember, it’s all legal as long as you have a prescription.

Urijah Faber vs. Mike Thomas Brown

Faber Scouting Report
Ht./Wt.: 5’6”/145 lbs.
Age: 29
Hometown: Isla Vista, Calif.
Fighting out of: Sacramento, Calif.
Record: 21-1

The stakes: A pillar of the WEC’s current success, Faber has become the superstar that the featherweight division spent years searching for. With that status has come pound-for-pound acclaim and the possibility of Faber becoming the first featherweight to anchor a pay-per-view show.

The hyper-competitive featherweight division has certainly seemed hell-bent on knocking Faber off his lofty perch, and Mike Thomas Brown is the latest such usurper. At a time when the stakes are growing day by day, Faber can’t afford any scuff marks on his sterling record lest the years spent building that record end up going to waste.

The breakdown: Once a straightforward ground-and-pound artist, Faber has blossomed into a true triple threat capable of cinching submissions and slinging strikes as easily as he grinds opponents into paste. The one troubling aspect of Faber’s game has been his propensity for finding himself in hairy situations on the ground against submission savvy opponents.

That is a weakness Faber must keep under wraps against Brown, who has the jiu-jitsu to befuddle Faber and the aggression to make him pay dearly for any mistakes. Barreling headfirst into the fray will have to take a backseat to careful strategy for Faber to hold onto the title with which he is synonymous.

Brown Scouting Report
Ht./Wt.: 5’6”/145 lbs.
Age: 33
Hometown: Portland, Maine
Fighting out of: Coconut Creek, Fla.
Record: 19-4

The stakes: As someone who has trained MMA for 13 years, Brown finally has the opportunity to justify his time in the game by becoming the new featherweight monarch. His evolution hasn’t been an easy one. He spent most of his career plying his wares as an overmatched lightweight thanks to the utter disdain many promoters seemed to harbor for the idea of a featherweight division. Finally entrenched in his true weight class, Brown finds himself in the unfamiliar role of headliner in a bout that fans actually care about.

The breakdown: A versatile foe capable of handling himself with aplomb anywhere the fight goes, the one scenario Brown must avoid is 25 minutes of Faber turning him into a placemat. Trying to pull a miracle from the guard will more than likely leave Brown open to one of Faber’s trademark elbow volleys and the ensuing crimson gashes that accompany them.

The key to handling such a dynamic fighter is to disrupt his flow and keep him off balance by constantly forcing him to adapt to what you’re doing. To do so, Brown must be willing to test the waters on the feet and force Faber to fend off takedowns instead of allowing “The California Kid” to load up on one bulldozing shot after another.


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The bottom line: Over the course of his lengthy title reign, Faber has fended off wrestlers, grapplers, strikers and everything in between. In Brown he faces a fighter who mirrors his versatility but lacks the overwhelming physicality that defines Faber.

That is the key to this match, as Brown’s hard-nosed, fundamentally sound approach will wilt in the face of Faber’s ADD-style antics. The disparity in speed and power on the feet will lead Brown to seek solace on the ground only to end up with Faber sealing the deal on another successful title defense with a dominant ground-and-pound blitzkrieg.