California King!

WEC Featherweight Champion “California Kid” Urijah Faber (21-1) fended off a game, but outclassed “Li’l Evil” Jens Pulver (22-9-1) in a five-round unanimous decision in Sacramento Sunday night.

The “California Kid” packed a big right hook counter to Pulver’s southpaw boxing in the first session.  Faber landed the punch just enough to make Pulver think twice.

The fight only went to the mat once in round one, when Faber fell mid-kick and Pulver pounced; but, Faber locked up Pulver and stood out of “Li’l Evil’s” mount.

In round two, Faber felt Pulver respected his stand-up enough to shoot to the mat with single-leg takedowns.  Faber scored most attempts; but, Pulver’s guard smothered Faber’s offense.

Faber decided to throw with the noted striker, Pulver, in round three and beat “Li’l Evil” by popping in and out with jolting shots and mixing in a high kick to keep Pulver guessing.

In the fourth, Faber took Pulver back to the mat and hammered elbows into his skull until the bell.

By the final round, Pulver was gassed and Faber closed the UD with jabs and right hooks to Pulver’s head.

Torres Shuts Maeda Down

WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres (34-1) boxed Yoshiro Maeda’s (23-5-2) right eye shut, convincing the cageside doctor to stop the fight after the third round.

Maeda drew first blood in round one, splitting Torres’s forehead with a knee in the clinch.

The cut didn’t slow Torres’s forward onslaught.  In round two, Torres landed kicks at all levels before clsoing distance with a jab/right hook/knee combo into the clinch where Torres hammered knees to Maeda’s body.

Maeda was game!  He brawled the champ to the mat and slipped on a nifty toe lock.  Torres reciprocated before they both released and scrambled.  Maeda reached again for the toe lock; but, Torres swung his legs into a near triangle choke.  Maeda slipped free and the fighters returned to their feet.

By round three, Torres’s jab had ballooned Maeda’s right eye.  A straight punch direct hit proved how little Maeda could see from his lead side and the cageside docter ended the fight.

Munoz Mauls Grigsby

Mark Munoz (4-0) solved Chuck Grigsby’s (13-4) reach advantage to pound him out at 4:15 of round one.

Grigsby exploited his advantage early, landing an uppercut that drove Munoz to the cage.  But, Munoz was persistent with the takedown, scoring it beneath Grigsby’s combos.

Once Grigsby was back to the mat, Munoz postured out of Grigsby’s guard and landed several looping, lunging overhands.  Grigsby reached for Munoz’s ankle and Munoz kneeled and landed three right hooks, the second of which knocked Grigsby cold for the Munoz victory.

“Razor” Dull in Return

Former WEC Lightweight Champion “Razor” Rob McCullough (16-4) and “The Machine” Kenneth Alexander (5-3) wanted nothing to do with each other in a three-round McCullough split decision.

The kickboxer and wrestler circled each other most of the fifteen-minute affair.

McCullough scored consistently with a sharp leg kick, frequently countering an Alexander straight; but, Alexander took the kickboxer McCullough to the mat just as often.

Alexander couldn’t score on the mat, nor keep “Razor” pinned; and, McCullough’s strikes added up on the cards in the meantime.

Fighters.com scored the fight 29-28 for McCullough.

Cerrone Taps Castillo

“Cowboy” Donald Cerrone (8-0) tapped WEC debuting Danny Castillo (5-1) in an armbar in the first round.

Castillo took lanky Cerrone to the mat; but, Cerrone wrapped up the armbar from rubber guard.