Mike Brown is an unassuming character.

He's not flashy like Urijah Faber, The California Kid.

He doesn't have the notoriety, nor the respect (at least not as much as he should).

Heck, he doesn't even have a nickname.

But what he does have is the WEC featherweight belt. And he intends to keep it when he faces former champion Urijah Faber Sunday in a rematch of a bout last November when Brown surprised many to take the title away from Faber.

Making money doing something he loves, and being a champion to boot? This is not something he ever thought would be the case a decade ago. And he was pretty candid about his beginnings in the sport at a recent media luncheon.

"I saw (MMA) on TV, fell in love, thought it was the greatest thing in the world," recalled the 33-year-old, who also remembers thinking, "I can't believe it's legal, how do we do it?"

He found out soon enough. The Portland, Maine, native graduated from college in 2000 with a degree in biology. His plan was to work in the field somehow -- perhaps in a lab. But he figured he needed to make time for his hobby.

"I thought I'll train for a fight and then after I'll get a real job," Brown said. "And then it turned into a year and then two years and then it's like I kept trying to chase it a little more, and now it's nine years later and I still don't have a job!"

Well, considering he fights full-time for a living now, we'll call it a job. But he's only been able to do that recently.

"I only started making money the past couple of years," Brown said. "I've always worked the minimal amount of hours to get by and train as much as I can. But I've had all kinds of crappy jobs."

One of those jobs was working for Budweiser, stacking supermarket shelves. It was a good one because he was able to set his own hours and train in between -- with even more time in the gym if he was quick at his day job. Problem was, he couldn't squeeze in any shelf-stacking when he had an upcoming fight.

"I was always asking for time off for fights," Brown said. "So I was fired."

Was he disappointed?

"No, I thought, 'Great I can train more.'"

His simple wit had the media in attendance chuckling on more than one occasion. He described what he called his worst job ever: working for a moving company.

"I did that for one summer and it's all day long everyday, (moving) couches -- big couches," Brown explained. "You know how much it sucks to move, and it never ends!"

What made that even tougher is he's by no means a big guy. He stands five-foot-six and walked around at about 154 pounds when he first got into fighting. And that meant competing at lightweight would be a challenge because his opponents would likely be bigger than him.

But there wasn't much opportunity at lower weights. He fought a lot in Massachusetts in shows that had same-day weigh-ins. So he had no problem weighing in at 155, and other guys didn't have a lot of time to get weight back on in the two hour time period before the fight.

After accumulating nine wins against only one loss, he got an opportunity at the UFC to "make a name for himself." But again it meant going up in weight. He lost to Genki Sudo by first-round triangle armbar.

The best thing for his fighting career was in 2005 when he moved from Maine to Florida to train full-time with American Top Team in Coconut Creek. He trains with a few guys bigger than him there, like Thiago Alves (who will face Georges St. Pierre for the welterweight title at UFC 100) and JZ Cavalcante (who he says is probably the hardest puncher on the team). But he can take a punch.

"I've never really been hurt," said Brown (21-4), who has only ever lost by submission.

Brown, who is a lot bigger now than when he made his debut in 2001, doesn't have to worry about fighting outside his natural weight class. He's found a home in the WEC, a premier organization that showcases the lower weight divisions, where he is undefeated in three appearances and is currently on a nine-fight win streak overall.

While he didn't necessarily expect to be as successful in the sport as he has been up to this point, Brown says he has always been confident heading into any fight.

"I don't think I would ever take a fight if I believed I was going in there to lose," Brown said. "I'd have to be paid a lot of money to do that. Okay, Fedor Emelianenko for $10,000."

Some wondered if his win over the previously dominant Faber (22-2), who had won 13 fights in a row, was a fluke, him simply taking advantage a risky spinning elbow by Faber that just missed. But that doesn't bother Brown, who has always felt he matches up well against wrestlers like Faber. And he plans to let his fists do the talking.

On Sunday night, there's another thing he won't have but his opponent will: the crowd on his side. Because the main event of WEC 41 goes down at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, the hometown of Faber.

But if he does manage to take down the rematch, he'll silence the crowd -- and any remaining critics.

"If I won a split decision, five-round decision, that's still two Ws in my column and zero in his."

NOTES: Brown looks forward to a time when he'll be able to fight in his home state of Maine, one of the shrinking number of states where mixed martial arts is illegal. That time could be soon as legislation was recently passed in both the House and the Senate to allow MMA competition, and it's now up to Maine's governor to sign the measure. …

WEC executive Reed Harris recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio that if Faber is successful in reclaiming his belt from Brown, a rubber match would not necessarily be immediate. Despite Brown's upset win over Faber in their first meeting, Faber had to get a win in between -- he beat Jens Pulver -- before he got this rematch. The same could be expected of Brown.