WEC Lightweight Dominance: Jose Aldo Is Cagefighting's Next Urijah Faber

After his dominating performance at WEC 48 on Saturday, Jose Aldo showed why he’s going to run World Extreme Cagefighting's featherweight division for a very long time.

The only way to be the best, is to beat the best.

We’ve all heard this old adage a thousand times before, and perhaps there’s actually something to it. If there is, Aldo left no doubt that his time has arrived after he cruised to a lopsided unanimous decision victory over former featherweight king, Urijah Faber.

“We were planning for it to be a really tough fight, with Urijah being the tough competitor that he is, the great champion that he is,” Aldo said following his nearly-perfect performance.

Prior to the showdown inside Arco Arena, Faber held an impressive 22-4 professional record. He had dropped two of his last four, however, both losses were in championship fights to Mike Brown. He lost his strap in their first encounter at WEC 36, when he ate a vicious right from Brown after attempting a high-risk maneuver.

In their rematch, Faber broke his right punching hand in the early ticks, and fought the last four rounds one-handed.

Meanwhile, Aldo quietly—yet violently—crept through the backdoor to emerge on top of the 145-pound mountain. The Brazilian destroyed Brown to capture the crown, then demanded to make his first title defense against the division’s former ruler in Faber’s hometown of Sacramento, Calif.

Despite tearing through everyone, Aldo was anointed the top dog of the division, even though he was never forced to go through Faber to get there. Aldo wanted to stack all the chips in Faber’s corner to leave no doubt there was a new sheriff in town.

Prior to Aldo’s arrival, Faber was the one posting one devastating finish after another. However, after witnessing Saturday’s beatdown, the 23-year-old made it perfectly clear this will be his division for as long as he wants it to be.

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