THE CANADIAN PRESS
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Jose Aldo defended his World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight title Saturday night, dominating former champion Urijah (The California Kid) Faber en route to a five-round decision.
The 23-year-old from Brazil used powerful leg kicks to soften up Faber in a battle of marquee 145-pound mixed martial arts fighters. Faber (23-4) was game but had no answers and took his lumps.
The judges scored it 49-45, 49-45, 50-45 for Aldo (17-1).
“He really took away my legs and it was impossible to get something going,” said Faber, who was held up by his cornermen during the post-fight interview.
“It was a tough fight. I tried my best,” he added.
In the co-main event at Arco Arena, WEC lightweight champion Ben (Smooth) Henderson made short work of Donald (Cowboy) Cerrone, finishing him off by guillotine choke at 1:57 of the first round.
The two fought five long, hard rounds when they first met in October for the interim 155-pound title.
The WEC, which focuses on lighter weight classes, is owned by the UFC and the parent organization threw its muscle behind its first pay-per-view. The UFC broadcast team was brought in, as was its ring announcer, and president Dana White was the point man all week.
There was virtually no mention of the WEC in the cage or on the broadcast, which opted for UFC gloss over a generic Aldo vs. Faber tag.
Henderson was introduced simply as the lightweight champion of the world, which will comes as a surprise to UFC lightweight title-holder Frankie (The Answer) Edgar.
White mugged for the cameras at one point, sitting next to Strikeforce champion Jake Shields, who is expected to join the UFC and challenge Canadian Georges St-Pierre for his welterweight title.
The first round of the main event was mainly a feeling out process by both fighters although Aldo looked more dangerous, landing a solid body shot and knee.
Aldo used kicks again in the second to set up his punches, while evading Faber’s fists. Faber was changing stances and favouring his left leg as the round ended.
The champion stalked Faber in the third, punishing him with a body kick. Aldo caught Faber with a head kick and then hammered away at the fence. Aldo took out Faber’s leg with a kick late in the round. Faber’s cornerman carried him back to the stool between rounds.
Faber, almost hopping on one leg, ended up on the ground in the fourth with Aldo on his back looking for a choke. Faber fought his way back to his feet but was chopped down to the ground by a single kick.
Aldo got him in a mounted crucifix position, trapping his arms while dropping elbows and punching away. Faber was saved by the bell.
Aldo’s corner told the champion to keep kicking in the final round. Aldo didn’t do much in the final round, but he fought off Faber’s takedown attempts with ease and hurt him with a big body shot.
Aldo had won all six of his previous WEC fights by knockout, dethroning Mike Brown in a dominant performance last time out in November. Prior to that he stopped Cub Swanson in just eight seconds, using a deadly flying double knee to leave him a bloody mess on the canvas.
Aldo’s lone career loss was by submission in November 2005.
Faber, a 30-year-old Sacramento native, entered first to his trademark “California Love” by 2Pac, Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman.
Aldo followed to boos, running through the crowd to the cage.
In the other title fight, Henderson (12-1) softened Cerrone up with some nasty knees at the fence before taking him down and slapping on the choke.
“Pretty tight,” he said, looking at a replay of the guillotine.
Cerrone (11-3 with one no contest) sported a huge knot on his forehead after the fight courtesy of Henderson’s knees.
Henderson has now won 11 straight since December 2006.
Earlier, Manny (The Anvil) Gamburyan upset Brown, knocking out the former featherweight champion with a right to the jaw at 2:22 of the first round. Gamburyan ate a right and replied in kind, crumpling Brown and then finishing him off on the ground.
Brown (23-6) was a 6-1 favourite against Gamburyan (13-5).
In a wild slugfest on the undercard, featherweight Leonard (Bad Boy) Garcia (17-5-1) defeated WEC newcomer Chan Sung (The Korean Zombie) Jung.
Garcia (18-5-1) won a 29-28, 28-29, 29-28 decision over Jung (10-2), who will feel he deserved better from the scorecards.
“I’m not a judge. I’ve been on the bad side of it,” said Garcia, who said he broke his hand in the first round. “My job is to come out and give you guys the best show that I know and that’s what I do every time I come out.
“There’s a couple of times in there I thought I was going to go down but I stayed up somehow.”
Bantamweight Scott (Young Guns) Jorgensen avenged an earlier defeat to Antonio Banuelos by winning the rematch in a unanimous 29-28 decision.
Banuelos, who won a split decision when they met last June, put Jorgensen down in the first round with a left to the chin. But Jorgensen (10-3) came on strong in the second round and bloodied Banuelos, then floored him with a right as time wound down.
In the third, a busted up Banuelos (18-6) went down again and spent the last minute fighting off a choke.
Lightweight Shane Roller put on a ground clinic before choking out Anthony (The Assassin) Njokuani at 3:07 of the first round.
Roller (8-2) was a three-time all-American wrestler at Oklahoma State and dominated Njokuani (13-3) on the ground. A dangerous striker, Njokuani — who was coming off three straight knockout of the night performances — never had a chance to show his arsenal.
Featherweight Chad (Money) Mendes (7-0), a member of Faber’s Team Alpha Male, stopped Anthony (Cheesesteak) Morrison (15-8) via guillotine choke at 2:13 of the first round.
Lightweight Anthony (Showtime) Pettis submitted veteran Alex (The Assassin) Karalexis by triangle choke at 1:35 of the second round.
Bantamweight Brad Pickett won an all-action contest over Demetrious Johnson via unanimous decision. Pickett said he may have broken his collarbone during the bout.
Featherweight Tyler Toner stopped Brandon Visher via TKO at 2:36 of the first round.
The WEC heads to Canada next, for a televised June 20 card in Edmonton.
