Faber vs Pulver 2: Electric Boogaloo - Jan. 25, 2009

by Discman2 on Nov 26, 2008 1:16 PM EST Comment 44 comments

Faberpulver_medium

According to a recent report at MMAWeekly.com former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber and former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver are going to fight again on the WEC 38 card slated for January 25, 2009.

Although bout agreements have yet to be signed, sources indicate that both sides have verbally agreed to the rematch.

While this is not concrete confirmation that the two will indeed fight again it does get me thinking as to why the WEC would want to hold this match up again so soon. Besides ratings I see no reason why these two should be matched up again so soon. For one, it sets up Jens Pulver for another potential loss. In their first meeting Faber dominated Pulver, though Pulver was able to mount his own offense in stints. For the majority of the fight it was all Faber. I can see where the WEC, and ZUFFA, want to set up a rematch with Mike Brown as soon as possible but to have an almost immediate rematch with Pulver? I just don't see it. Especially now that Pulver has lost to Leonard Garcia and Faber lost to Mike Brown. Not only is the appeal that they are fighting for a championship lost but now this matchup seems like a win or go home scenario. I'm not saying that the WEC would get rid of two of their most popular fighters but the fight has that sort of feel to it. And if Pulver loses, where does he go from there? I know I may be getting ahead of myself as this fight has not been officially announced but I'm just thinking out loud here.

The last time these two fought was earlier this year at WEC 34, the most successful WEC event to date. Comparing the last WEC events to feature both Faber and Pulver: WEC 34, which featured Faber vs Pulver for the featherweight title, got a 1.4 rating and WEC 36, which featured two championship matches (well one in reality, but it was promoted as two) got a .4 rating. Again, both Faber and Pulver were featured in both cards, just not against each other and WEC 36 even had an added, then subtracted, middleweight title match. So in that respect I can see why the WEC wants this fight to happen again.

After that five round championship fight both fighters went on to lose at WEC 36. Since the loss Faber has been looking to get back immediately into the mix and there were reports that a fight against Jose Aldo was in the works, but apparently talks for that fight have fell apart.

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I likey!

"My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions." --George W. Bush, The Decider, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007

by lovingmma25 on Nov 25, 2008 4:41 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Man… poor Jens.

by Nick Thomas on Nov 25, 2008 4:41 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

poor affliction.

by szucconi on Nov 25, 2008 4:47 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

1 day apart… yeah for us.

by Nick Thomas on Nov 25, 2008 4:50 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Uhh... WTF...

Thought they said Faber was fighting Jose Aldo on January 25th?

This falls into the, I don’t think I want to see this again… category.

Faber should be fighting Leonard Garcia

by Gunslinger20 on Nov 25, 2008 4:51 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Someone was scared of…

by Nick Thomas on Nov 25, 2008 4:55 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

If Faber is afraid of this guy...

I seriously lose a lot of respect for him. Fighting Pulver again just seems like a cop out on his part. If this is true and they make Faber vs Pulver 2… I will be rooting for Pulver to knock his ass out. (unlikely to happen, but dare to dream)

by Gunslinger20 on Nov 25, 2008 5:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I agree, it does appear to be a dodge to me too..

not to mention I think Aldo would dominate Faber from what I have seen of him.

by lbk on Nov 25, 2008 5:41 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It is not a dodge, it is to get ratings. The ratings on the last show were shockingly low.

by iiowyn on Nov 26, 2008 10:15 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Get ready for shockingly lower ratings

The base of their audience is the hardcore MMA fans and from what I’m gathering, they are pissing them off… including me. I will see Donald Cerrone win the Lightweight Belt and then I’ll turn this thing off.

The right promoting can make any casual fan want to watch this…. WEC needs to expand their promoting and marketing… the last event was advertised on the internet and Versus only pretty much. No one outside the casual fan “realm” knew the last event was even happening.

by Gunslinger20 on Nov 26, 2008 10:39 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I watch the WEC because I enjoy watching lighter weight fighters. I find them far more exciting to watch, you lose a little knockout percentage but gain energetic fighting in spades. Plus it is free MMA.

by iiowyn on Nov 26, 2008 10:43 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I watch the WEC for the same reason...

Best lighter weight fighters are there…. but I watched that fight already… the first meeting was one of the best fights I’d ever seen…

One thing I learned from Hollywood… unless its absolutely called for… SEQUELS SUCK!!!

Faber vs Pulver 2, utterly pointless.

by Gunslinger20 on Nov 26, 2008 10:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think Garcia goes against Brown next.

by mythbuster on Nov 25, 2008 5:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Looks like Leonard Garcia will be twisting his nips to the title...

Mike Brown vs Leonard Garcia is going to be a good matchup…

Best fight on January 25th is going to be Donald Cerrone vs Jamie Varner anyways.

by Gunslinger20 on Nov 25, 2008 5:05 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

This is a lose lose for Faber. If Pulver beats him, bad news for him. If he wins, he was supposed to. This rematch makes no sense what so ever.

by lbk on Nov 25, 2008 5:19 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I agree. Not to mention, Pulver got knocked around badly last time. Granted he lasted the whole fight but at no point (that I recall) was Faber in danger of losing. I’m not sure how this rematch makes sense.

by mythbuster on Nov 25, 2008 5:25 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

plus what does it say about Faber these days if ihe couldn’t finish Pulver in 5 rounds when Garcia stopped Pulver in less than 2 minutes?

If I was Faber, I would be begging Zuffa for Garcia for the right to face Brown again. I mean wow. This fight is ridiculous.

by lbk on Nov 25, 2008 5:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I agree 100%

I cannot believe I actually argued a few weeks ago that Urijah Faber should be in the best pound for pound discussions…. I definitely feel like an asshole now.

by Gunslinger20 on Nov 25, 2008 7:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Fighters get caught. Everyone needs to stop jumping off a guys bandwagon over one fight. If he goes and loses his next two, then fine. Losing one fight to a high quality, top ranked opponent says very little about Faber’s abilities slipping.

GSP and BJ Penn are fighting each other in a few months. If one of them is finished in dominant fashion, does that mean everyone was an asshole for considering him a top pound for pound fighter?

by dropkick101 on Nov 25, 2008 7:49 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

Here's my issue

Jose Aldo is a quality opponent and would be a true test for Faber, after coming off a loss like he had against Brown… I’d want the best competition, not go back to the well for what would be a “sure win”. Leonard Garcia knocked Jens Pulver very easily…. he was landing bombs on Pulver like he was swinging a baseball bat. Pulver pushed Urijah 5 rounds.

At this point, the fight makes zero sense. My opinion was that Garcia should fight Faber… that is a fight that would draw major attention considering the degree to which Garcia won against Pulver and if Faber wants to prove that he indeed “got caught”. If Garcia has earned his shot at Brown (which in my opinion is deserved whether he fights Urijah Faber or not) then Faber needs to go against another opponent that could very well be in the hunt for title contention and that is Jose Aldo. Another fight w/ Jens Pulver is a major step back and I’m sorry, but Urijah is punking out and is just going to aim to do what Leonard Garcia already did and thats beat a FORMER champ who’s past his time… well he beats Jens decisively… big deal… it took two tries to do it when Leonard Garcia did on the first try.

Faber takes on Pulver again, he loses credibility and respect.

by Gunslinger20 on Nov 25, 2008 8:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

This is why I respect Rampage...

He lost his belt… yet his next fight is against a quality opponent that is also in the title hunt in Wanderlei Silva.

I’d say the same thing about Rampage if it was him taking on Mark Coleman instead of Shogun.

by Gunslinger20 on Nov 25, 2008 8:03 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah fighting Mark Coleman is a b**** move for anyone. He’s 43, hasn’t fought in over 2 years, and has lost a fight for every two he won.

by EazyEismydad on Nov 26, 2008 5:12 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Pulver=Ozone

Faber=Turbo

http://eliotmarshall.com/

by BJJDenver on Nov 25, 2008 5:45 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I think a lot of you guys have it wrong.

Despite the losses, Faber and Pulver are still the two biggest featherweights in North America, in terms of name recognition. This match up makes sense right now, especially considering the low ratings for the last show. The promotion needs to come back strong and a Faber-Pulver fight is an already proven commodity. If Faber wins again, he will immediately rematch for the title. If Pulver is able to pull out the victory, his star is rekindled and he could fight for the belt.

Also, this is not Faber ducking Aldo. This is a situation where Faber can make a lot more money fighting Pulver than Aldo. On top of that, Aldo has had two fights in the WEC. It would make sense for Aldo to make a little big of a bigger name for himself before stepping into the cage with a commodity like Faber. Mike Brown had to beat top 10 ranked Jeff Curran before he stepped into the ring with Faber; Leonard Garcia had a high profile war with Roger Huerta in the UFC and a dominating WEC knockout of a tough opponent before he was given the Pulver fight.

Faber is 6-1 in the company and has been in the cage with Tyson Griffin, Jeff Curran, Krazy Horse, Ivan Menjivar, Mike Brown, and Pulver. To say that he is ducking a fighter is entirely without merit.

by dropkick101 on Nov 25, 2008 7:46 PM EST reply actions 2 recs

Hey Discman2

I Rec’d this…. one of the most productive discussions I’ve had all day and I spent 11 hours at work.

by Gunslinger20 on Nov 25, 2008 8:04 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Rec’d!

by Nick Thomas on Nov 25, 2008 8:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I don’t like the matchup. Jens says himself he’s only at about 40% after switching camps, and that was before the last fight. He reportedly has a completely new training style and needs time to adjust. Giving him an opponent who 1) beat him so recently and 2) is arguably still the best featherweight in the world with a newfound fire under his ass is just asking for another loss.
As previously stated it’s lose-lose for Faber and favoring a lose for Pulver. Spread the two of them out so they can rematch again in about a year after each of them takes out the other top competitors.

by Simco on Nov 26, 2008 1:16 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

awesome thread title!

that’s it, that’s all i got

by Headkick on Nov 26, 2008 10:15 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I hate when people say its a lose-lose. People said that about Brock’s fight against Randy and now Faber against Pulver. If they are willing to step in the cage against a gamed opponent then how can it be a lose-lose?

I don’t mind seeing Faber and Pulver again, that first fight has to be up for fight of the year, I wanna see them go at it again, bring it on WEC!

"My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions." --George W. Bush, The Decider, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007

by lovingmma25 on Nov 26, 2008 10:42 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I understand your point, I too would have loved to see this fight happen again..

albeit, with this being a fight with 2 guys coming off of impressive victories. The fact that they both got knocked out in less than 2 minutes in the 1st does not make for a great rematch though.

by lbk on Nov 26, 2008 11:29 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The fact that they are both coming off of those types of losses makes this fight even more interesting.

"My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions." --George W. Bush, The Decider, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007

by lovingmma25 on Nov 26, 2008 1:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I disagree. The cynic in me thinks this is an attempt at a “Gimmie” win for Faber. Faber is so important to the WEC that they need to feed him a big win to get him back in the title picture. This does just that and at a very minimal risk.

If Faber wanted to be really tested they would have set up a match with Leonard Garcia. That he is getting Pulver again is a joke.

by lbk on Nov 26, 2008 2:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It is basically a gimmie but how big of a win is it at this point? Faber already beat Pulver in a championship situation. In fact he dominated him for 5 rounds. Pulver is on a 2 fight skid, last losing to Leonard Garcia. That doesn’t exactly spell a big time win.

And I believe they are trying to get Brown to face Garcia next for the FW title, but Brown has a broken rib or something.

by Discman2 on Nov 26, 2008 2:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It’s not a big win at all in my mind or anyone else that follows the division. It’s an exhibition meant to get Faber back on the horse again. That’s all it is. Jens should be retiring now. Not fighting a stud like Faber again. Plus, you KNOIW Faber is going to go for a finish this time.

by lbk on Nov 26, 2008 2:44 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

also, some more numbers as it relates to Jens and Faber:

Jens has lost 5 of his last 8. With 4 of those 5 losses coming from stoppages in the first 2 rounds. The only one of those guys who wasn’t able to finish him? Faber.

by lbk on Nov 26, 2008 2:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

At this point it makes no sense for either fighter. It really only makes sense for the WEC to try and get big ratings.

It’s a strange match up when you look at it only from a ‘climbing the ladder’ point of view . Marketing wise it makes a lot of sense.

by Discman2 on Nov 26, 2008 2:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Why is everything compared to Brock vs Randy now?

The fight is over…. Randy Couture lost…. Brock Lesnar won…. lets move on…

by Gunslinger20 on Nov 26, 2008 10:50 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I don’t understand why they are going to do a rematch. Pulver has now lost two in a row and Faber JUST beat him one fight ago. I think now would be a good time for a fight with KID yamamoto even though Faber doesn’t have the belt right now.

by J_Maddux on Nov 26, 2008 9:30 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Its apparent..

By now it should be apparent to everyone that this is a ratings grabber pure and simple. I don’t know how many viewers it’ll pull if the fight does happen because Faber already dominated Pulver. Casual and hardcore fans all saw that fight so why would they want to see another dominate fight by Faber? Before their first meeting I would say that it was believed to be a very competitive match and there was a chance that Faber could loss. That’s one reason why so many people tuned in. The other being that Faber, a growing legend in the sport, was going to face an already established legend and popular fighter in Pulver. And lets not forget that they were fighting for a title, and who doesn’t like watching title fights? (Lets forget for a second that the psuedo title fight Fihlo/Sonnen II did not happen) Now though there is no chance, barring another Mike Brown type performance but this time by Pulver, of this being as competitive as last time or even more competitive. No chance. Pulver has changed camps and even he admits that he is not to his full potential with the new training that he is doing. Will he be at 100% by January? Probably not. He needs a warm up fight to get back into the mix and to fully develop his new training methods and fighting method.

Should the two meet again Faber is going to come out guns blazing and he is not going to go for a flashy, yet risky, performance like he did with Brown. He’s just going to re-establish himself as the dominate fighter that he is and he is going to force the WEC to give him another shot at Brown. That is if Brown is still champion after the possible Leonard Garcia fight.

by Discman2 on Nov 27, 2008 2:24 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

speaking of Garcia...

Where does Huerta stand in the LW-standings? I´ll be the first to admit that I wasn`t overly impressed with his performances against Guida or Florian. He`s got a lot of wins, but he has also faced some easy competition.

On the other hand… He DID beat Garcia convincingly and even though that was in a higher weight-class, Garcia has looked impressive in his last couple of fights.

And he DID beat Guida who lost a close split decision to Tyson Griffin and has wins convincing wins over Danzig, Schiavo, Aurelio.

And his loss against Florian doesn`t really look as bad when you compare his performance to Joe Stevensons. KenFlo iddn`t wanna brawl (wisely) and thus took an easy decision. Still, forcing Florian to accept a decision-win isn`t all that crappy anymore.

by BlueberryMuffin on Nov 27, 2008 7:43 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Huerta has been M.I.A since he ran his mouth about his pay. He went from being on of the poster boys of the Latin UFC market to being shunned by the UFC. Remember a few weeks ago Spike replayed UFC 87? Well they played every fight except the Huerta/Florian fight which wasn’t a bad fight by any means.

Kinda odd they would seemingly black ball Huerta like that. But Dana White really hates it when his fighters talk pay, especially when they complain about it.

by Discman2 on Nov 27, 2008 11:50 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

At least he`s still on the roster as far as homepages go. And the IGN comment about “top ten pound-for-pounders already signed for "Undisputed” "they mentioned Joe Stevenson and Roger Huerta being just off the top ten list. Doesn`t that mean that he`s still a UFC fighter?

Maybe he`s got some exams or something? Doesn`t he go to college full-time? And he DID fight like 6? times last year.

by BlueberryMuffin on Nov 28, 2008 7:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs