Huge MMA upset as Brown tko's Faber for WEC Featherweight crown

Frank Mir, in his role as WEC color commentator, had just made a case for Urijah Faber as the best "pound for pound" fighter in the world.  "He doesn't have any weaknesses" Mir claimed.  And while Faber is definitely one of the most talented, best conditioned and complete fighters in MMA he demonstrated that he was human in the main event of a WEC card held at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida.  He got careless, he got caught by veteran fighter and now Mike Brown is the WEC featherweight champion following his stunning TKO win over the heavily favored Faber.

The prefight buzz surrounded Faber's ability to deal with Brown's size and strength but when they met in the cage they looked to be roughly the same size.  Early on Brown had some trouble with Faber's speed.  "The California Kid" scored early on with some punches and kicks, but they didn't hurt his battle tested opponent.  Faber engaged him in a clinch and tried for one of his highlight reel slams, but quickly found that wasn't going to be possible with this opponent.  Brown responded by bulling Faber to the cage wall and trying for a takedown, Faber deftly reversed the attempt and landed a solid knee but appeared to slip in the process.  Brown then scored a takedown but Faber bounced right back up to carelessly rush at his opponent.  He was immediately met with a big punch and elbow strike combination and went down hard.  Brown took his back and mounted a "ground and pound" attack for a few moments before the referee stepped in and waved off the fight.

Brown was understandably emotional in his postfight interview, thanking his friends, family and training partners for helping him reach the culmination of "this long road."  For his part, Faber displayed his characteristic class and trademark carefree attitude in defeat as he congratulated Brown on the victory.  He made no excuses, saying that "he made a mistake" and Brown made him pay for it.  Noting that he's just "a happy guy who loves life" he assured the fans that he'd be back.  Hopefully Faber has learned that he needs to temper his cyclonic fight style against Brown and work his myriad skills into a more tactical and measured fight strategy.  If he's able to do this, a rematch with Brown could be a classic.