One question I want to know the answer to is what is next for “The California Kid” Urijah Faber following his strong performance against Jens Pulver.  Faber is by far the best featherweight in the world.  The question is who is he going to fight next.  He has beaten some good opponents in Jeff Curran and now Jens Pulver.  I think there are a couple of options for Faber. 

1.  He could stay in the featherweight divison of the WEC and keep defending his belt.  There are still a few guys he could beat, but I do not know who can compete with him seriously.  Perhaps Cub Swanson or someone else would make sense, but I don’t think it would be much of a fight.  I just don’t know what else he has to prove in the featherweight divison.  The only talent that can compete with him is not in the WEC.

2. He could move up to lightweight in the WEC.  He is big enough to do it and I think would do well.  I think he would destroy guys liek Rob McCullough or Jamei Varner. 

3.  He could move up to lightweight in the UFC.  He has said he would like to avenge his loss to Tyson Griffin, and Tyson is in the UFC.  That would be an interesting fight, which I suspect will be a reality sooner than later.   I would like to see how Faber would stack up against other UFC lightweights.  I think he would do just fine.  I think he could plow through the Roger Huerta’s of the UFC, but some guys would be tough for him.  A B.J. Penn fight would be a smash hit and huge draw from a marketing stand point, but that isn’t likely yet as Penn will probably next fight the Florian vs. Huerta winner and then move up to fight St. Pierre if he still has the belt. I don’t know the logistics of how it would work, but I look for the Faber vs. Griffin fight to happen and I suspect Faber would have to move up to 155 for one fight at least.  Perhaps by the end of the year the UFC will plan a interpromotional fight card with the WEC.  How would you like to see fights like…Georges St. Pierre vs. Carlos Condit, Brian Stann vs. Jackson/Liddell/Wanderlei, Faber vs. Tyson Griffin, Paulo Filho vs. Anderson Silva ??  I am not saying the WEC guys would win, but it would make for marketable fights and an interesting card.

4. He could do some inter promotional fights with other featherweights.  Perhaps a fight with Kid Yamamoto or another top featherweight. 

Faber is young and still has a lot of fight in him.  I don’t know who else he will fight.  To me Faber defending his belt against some other WEC opponent would be a let down from the huge Pulver fight.  Perhaps a Faber vs. Pulver II is possible, but Faber was so dominant that I cannot see the logic behind that.