Urijah Faber defeated David Velasquez by Decision (Unanimous) 5:00 3R
Next up was a fight that should have been the main event. As far as most of the audience was concerned, this was the main event, or at least the best fight on the card. “Little” Dave Velasquez was defending his belt against Urijah Faber, who looked much bigger than 145 lbs. Regardless of the weight difference, Faber proved to be the better fighter with a Unanimous Decision victory that left Velasquez battered and bloody. After a mean stare down, it became apparent that there was a little bad blood between the two. Little Dave knew that he shouldn’t go to the ground, so he tried to keep it standing throughout the fight. He landed a grazing high kick at the start of the first, only to be grounded by a nice Faber single leg. From inside Dave’s guard, Urijah unleashed some brutal ground and pound, and from there attained Dave’s back a couple times. After gaining side control, Urijah unleashed some devastating elbows and knees, looking like a miniature Matt Hughes. Velasquez tried a few submissions, concentrating on the triangle, but he couldn’t finish with any of them. After more strikes on Dave’s back, the round ended with Urijah dominating. Round two was more of the same, and featured some extremely fast action. Both fighters traded positions, with each gaining the others back at some point, working numerous submission attempts, but neither was able to finish. After Urijah gained Dave’s back, he punched the Little man directly in the back of the head, an illegal blow. The ref stopped the fight, assessed Urijah a yellow card, and gave Dave some time to rest. After restarting the fight, the action resumed fast and furiously. Urijah was all over Dave, who defended well, attempting another triangle and even an omoplata. Shortly after this exchange, the bell once again sounded. Starting out the third round, Velasquez got Urijah’s back, but was quickly reversed. Urijah then spent the rest of the time dominating, until he received a high kick on his way in to shoot. He recovered nicely, and recommenced his attack on the ground, where he bloodied up Velasquez badly. When the final bell sounded, the blood-spattered opponents picked themselves up off the mat, where the announcement was made that Urijah Faber was the new Lightweight Champion. Dave grabbed the microphone and made a spirited announcement to the crowd about passing the torch to the new generation, followed by Faber thanking all his buddies at UC Davis.
