He walked this road once before, the underdog pitted against a young, vibrant opponent who looks all but invincible. It takes more than long odds to make Jens Pulver (Pictures) flinch.

Seventeen fights and six years ago, a then 27-year-old Pulver climbed into the cage against the incomparable B.J. Penn (Pictures). Few gave him a chance. The Hawaiian was undefeated, having carved through his first three professional bouts with stunning ease and haste. Pulver emerged from the Octagon 25 minutes later with the UFC lightweight title fastened around his waste, the victor in a back-and-forth battle in which neither man budged. The majority decision remains Penn's only defeat at 155 pounds.

A different foe now captures Pulver's attention, as he prepares to meet Urijah Faber (Pictures) for the World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight championship at WEC 34 on Sunday at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif. Hailed as the most significant 145-pound fight in North American history, it pairs a heavily favored, in-his-prime champion against an experienced, proven challenger. Blockbusters are made from such ingredients.

Pulver (22-8-1) views Faber as his toughest test to date. Though he has become feared more for his knockout power than other skills he possesses, Pulver expects his amateur wrestling background -- he was a state champion in high school and competed briefly at Boise State University -- to come in handy.

"I haven't been [in a fight] with anybody like this," he says. "I don't think I've been against a bigger threat wrestling-wise than Urijah. I haven't been against too many people this fast, this explosive. I know going into this fight [that] Urijah's too good to avoid clinching with him. He's way too good for me to avoid having to wrestle him."

The golden boy for the surging WEC, Faber (20-1) has rattled off 12 consecutive victories since his technical knockout loss to Tyson Griffin in September 2005 -- a disputed defeat clouded by the fact that Faber suffered a deep laceration after he struck his head on an unpadded piece of steel in the first round. His last nine wins have come by TKO or submission, including his victory over the highly regarded Jeff Curran (Pictures) in December.

Perfect in eight bouts as a featherweight, Pulver realizes his experience in marquee fights will only carry him so far.

"He's fast, and he's confident," Pulver says. "He'll throw whatever he wants because he can get out of anything he falls into. Urijah's fought people, and he's won -- period. That kind of momentum is tough to beat. It doesn't matter what kind of wars I've been in."

To thicken the plot, Pulver will likely find himself up against a mountain of Faber supporters in the champion's native Sacramento.

"It's definitely got to help him," Pulver says. "He's in his own town, training in his own gym. How can that not help? He's at home. The one thing I know about Urijah is he's not going to crack under that kind of pressure. He's a champion. He gets to fight some place he always thought about fighting."

Pulver's long and oftentimes tumultuous road to the main event at WEC 34 winds from an abusive childhood in Washington to Iowa, where he now resides and trains at the revered Miletich Fighting Systems camp.

He vacated the UFC lightweight championship after he defeated Penn and sought riches elsewhere, competing for Shooto, Pride, even the International Fight League. Pulver returned to the Octagon in September 2006, when he faced the little known Joe Lauzon (Pictures) at UFC 63. He was finished in less than a minute, beaten for the first time in the UFC.

"When they gave me the opportunity to fight Lauzon and boom, I get caught, bam, down I went, I was like, ‘Oh my God, there it goes; it's not there,'" Pulver says.

UFC President Dana White eased Pulver's fears when he offered him a spot as one of the featured coaches on season five of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality series. He opposed Penn, and the show served as a catalyst to their long-awaited rematch, which ended in Pulver's second-round submission last summer. Afterward, Pulver announced his plans to move to the WEC, where he could compete at his natural weight of 145 pounds.

The jump, he says, was overdue.

"Getting guys dropping down from 180, 185, and they're sucking it down and then they get back to those heavier weights, it's just tough because you're going to expend a lot more energy trying to deal with their size and their skill," Pulver says. "This is my natural weight. It's always been in the 140s."

Pulver's WEC debut was nothing short of dazzling, as his guillotine choke coaxed a tapout from Cub Swanson (Pictures) in just 35 seconds. It was only the third submission of his career and first in nearly four years. The knockout artist reminded his peers he was more than a one-trick pony, and fans soon clamored for a showdown with Faber.

The two will carry arguably the most important show in WEC history. Never has the promotion gone to such lengths to push one bout. Pulver, now 33, seems to sense its significance.

"This right now is, hands down, the biggest moment in my career," Pulver says. "I'm not out there to make millions of dollars. I'm not famous. My sport's famous. If it wasn't for the fans, I wouldn't be here. The only real pressure I feel is to go out there and make sure it's a damn good fight. I want to make sure everybody, when they leave that place, goes, ‘Wow, I can't believe I got to see that.'"