Seven months ago, former WEC featherweight champ Urijah Faber worked over Jens Pulver for five rounds to take home a decisive 50-45 on all cards victory.
At the time, it was called an incredible fight. Now the WEC is looking for a repeat. How many things are wrong with this picture?
First of all, why is this fight getting top billing? On the same card there is the lightweight championship fight between James Varner and Donald Cerrone.
Varner dismantled former champ Rob McCullough at a kickboxing game (Razor Rob's bread and butter), and Donald Cerrone is a former undefeated Muay Thai fighter with seven of his eight wins via submission.
Are people seriously supposed to expect that a championship match deserves less attention than an non-title fight where the odds are that neither fighter will earn a No. 1 contender slot? The WEC seems to think so.
Second, their first fight wasn't that great. Unless you think that watching Jens Pulver getting punched in the face for five rounds is great. And the odds that your name is BJ Penn is slight, so it is doubtful that this fight was that much fun to watch.
Third, this fight shouldn't even be happening. Faber just lost his belt to Brown for being stupid and trying a desperation move for no reason. Pulver has lost two in a row.
If this is supposed to be Faber's chance to get number one contender status again, possibly behind Leonard Garcia, why is he fighting a guy that he has already worked over just two fights prior?
Nothing about this fight makes any sense. It should not be billed above the Varner/Cerrone fight.
It should not be talked about as though it could even contend with the last two Miguel Torres fights in terms of skill and entertainment. It should not be happening if this is setting up a potential contender. It should not be happening.
So, then why is the WEC advertising it as a main event? It would seem that they don't think too highly of the average WEC fan.
Perhaps WEC officials are hoping or thinking that fans are more likely drawn to a one-sided beatdown vs. a technically and equally aggressive fight. For the sake of argument, let us hope not.
Regardless of the reason, people will watch. Why? Because it is free. Because it is advertised on Spike along with the all the UFC Unleashed episodes that get released over and over, regardless of whether or not people actually want to keep being reminded of the snooze-fest that was the Ortiz/Machida fight at UFC 84.
It doesn't matter who wins this fight, we all lose for the simple fact that the WEC seems more inclined to talk down to the viewership than to promote the fighters that have earned their chance in the spotlight.
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