LAS VEGAS, June 3 -- Featherweight Urijah Faber (Pictures) once again retained his Word Extreme Cagefighting title by submitting challenger Chance Farrar (Pictures) late in the opening round Sunday evening.

Faber electrified fans inside the famed Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and proved once again that he is clearly near the top of the 145-pound division.

The champion had his hands full with Farrar until he finally sunk a rear-naked choke to cap off a superb evening of mixed martial arts action during WEC's live broadcast debut on Versus.

Fighting in a small venue that was surprisingly little more than half full, "The California Kid" knew the fight was going to be tougher than most expected, yet the defending champion still ended things before the end of the first stanza.

"I knew Chance is a top level athlete," Faber said after winning. "I knew he was going to come in shape. He got some good slams in."

"I'm really happy with the win," continued the 28-year-old Sacramento native. "I knew it was going to be tough."

Farrar and Faber collided at mid-cage seconds after the horn sounded to kick off the featured attraction and from that moment forward the tiny giants never relented until Farrar tapped out.

Farrar, 31, claimed that he was not going to crumble under the pressures of fighting for the WEC title and promised to push Faber harder than anybody else before him. And for the most part, Farrar, who fights out of San Diego, Calif., was correct.

Undefeated coming into Sunday's action, Farrar (5-1-0, 1 NC) pressed as much as he could and took it to Faber as the two grappled back-and-forth. But Faber (19-1) proved once again why is considered by most to be the top American featherweight right now.

Faber was forced into several uncomfortable positions as he was slammed down hard onto his back early on, but the veteran kept his poise and systematically found a hole in Farrar's tough exterior.

Just over three minutes into the contest, Faber latched on his opponent's back and sunk in a textbook rear-naked choke. At first the submission didn't appear to be deep enough, but as soon as Faber locked in his hooks and stretched out Farrar's body, the fight was over.

Farrar tried everything in his power to free himself, but he was unable to do so and eventually tapped at 3:19 of the first period.

It was another successful defense of the WEC 145 title and Faber pointed out that all of his title fights fail to last the distance.

"I've yet to go to a five-round fight," he chuckled. "Let's do it if it's a possibility."

Where Faber goes from here is anybody's guess, but he again barked afterward that he desperately wants to fight Japanese superstar "KID" Norifumi Yamamoto (Pictures), who despite not fighting regularly in the division for several years is still considered the class of the field.

Faber has called out Yamamoto for some time now and it's a fight that people want to see become a reality. But while that fight might take a while to materialize, Faber should have his hands full with some of the other WEC featherweights out there, particularly Cub Swanson (Pictures) and Rani Yahya (Pictures).

"I'm taking on whoever they want," Faber said. "There's a lot of top level fighters in this organization and I want to fight them all. I want to keep fighting, keep being a part of this."

Undercard

Rani Yahya (Pictures) won impressively in his WEC debut, forcing a tapout of respected former TKO champion Mark Hominick (Pictures) via rear-naked choke at just 1:19 of the first round. The quick submission allowed Yahya to inch that much closer to a potential WEC title shot.

Alex Karalexis (Pictures) and Josh Smith dueled until the end in one of the year's closest matches. However, Karalexis did just enough to eke out a majority decision, even after being penalized a point in the third for stomping on a downed Smith. The official scores favored Karalexis 28-28 and 29-27 (twice).

U.S. Marine and Iraq war veteran Brian Stann (Pictures) punished Craig Zellner (Pictures) from the start and wound up scoring a dominant TKO victory. Stann, who was awarded the Silver Star for bravery in combat, landed dozens of stinging punches. Just before the end of the round Stann pounded away at a woozy and battered Zellner, forcing a referee stoppage. The official time of the TKO came at 4:57 of the first.

Brock Larson (Pictures) made quick work Kevin Knabjan (Pictures), stopping him in just 27 seconds. Larson dropped Knabjan, a replacement for WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit (Pictures), who fell off Sunday's card after separating a shoulder while training for the title fight, with a straight left hand seconds into the contest. The Minnesotan tried a standing rear-naked choke once Knabjan regained his footing and then ended everything completely with a left knee to the chin. Larson added a few right hands onto the head of the fallen Knabjan, but the fight was already over at that point.

John Alessio (Pictures) scored a rather quick guillotine submission over Alex Serdyukov (Pictures), forcing him to tap at 1:17 of the first round. Alessio hurt Serdyukov with a left hand moments before the submission, a strike that forced Serdyukov to take a shot on Alessio. Serdyukov fell right into a guillotine and Alessio dropped to his back, closed his guard and finished the fight.

Cub Swanson (Pictures) and Micah Miller (Pictures) fought their hearts out for three grueling rounds, but in the end it was the tougher Swanson who prevailed. Swanson won the fight 30-27 on all three official judges' scorecards in a fight that was dubbed "fight of the night" by the WEC.

Brian Bowles scored a minor upset by submitting Charlie Valencia (Pictures) via rear-naked choke in the second round. The fight was action-packed from the beginning, but Bowles was able to catch Valencia with the submission and forced a tapout at the 2:50 mark of the second.

Jeff Bedard out-pointed Mike French over three rounds to start off the nine-fight card. It was a classic match-up between two grapplers, and Bedard's aggression and cage control were the difference. Judges at ringside called it a shutout, 30-27 across the board.