UFC 139 Fight Card: Urijah Faber vs. Brian Bowles, Early Head to Toe Breakdown

At UFC 139, the most likely contender for Dominick Cruz' 135 pound title will emerge, as former WEC featherweight champion, Urijah Faber, faces off against former WEC bantamweight champion, Brian Bowles.

Each of these men has already lost to Cruz in their careers.

At WEC 47, Dominick Cruz won the title when Bowles broke his hand and was unable to continue after the second round.

At UFC 132, Cruz made the first defense of his UFC bantamweight title when he defeated Faber by unanimous decision.

Now that these two are set to match up, lets take a look at an early head to toe breakdown.

Striking

Urijah Faber is not known as a striker, and Brian Bowles is.

This one was easy to call, as each fighter has their clear strength, and Bowles is striking.

Edge: Brian Bowles

Wrestling

Another one that's easy to call, because it's what he's good at.

Urijah Faber has the wrestling edge in this fight, as he has in most of his fights.

He will look to get this one to the ground and work some ground and pound or look for a submission.

Edge: Urijah Faber 

Jits

Once this one gets to the ground, these two are evenly matched in jitsu.

Both are brown belts in BJJ, and both have a respectable number of submissions to their name.

In 30 fights, Faber has 13 submissions, and in 11 fights, Bowles has six submissions.

Edge: Push

Experience

No real question here, as I made their number of fights clear on the previous slide.

Faber has 30, and Bowles has 11.

But more than that, Faber has 16 title fights in his career, and Bowles has two.

Edge: Urijah Faber

Cardio

Neither of these fighters have ever appeared gassed in a fight, but Faber gets the edge here for having gone the five round distance multiple times.

In Bowles' two title fights, the longest one went was 10 minutes.

Faber has gone 25 minutes four-times, and has been conditioned for it. We don't know if Bowles can handle it.

Edge: Urijah Faber

Winner

In the end, expect Faber to pull this one out and get a rubber match with Dominick Cruz.

Bowles has the edge in striking, but Faber's wrestling will likely be too much for Bowles to overcome, and he'll end up on his back for a majority of the fight.

Prediction: Urijah Faber by unanimous decision

Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow me on twitter @tmt2393.