Urijah Faber accomplishes goal at UFC 175
Urijah Faber celebrates after defeating Alex Caceres in their bantamweight mixed martial arts bout at UFC 175 on Saturday, July 5, 2014, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher) Credit: AP / John Locher
Urijah Faber had all eyes on him, just the way he wanted it by being the main event on the Fox Sports 1 prelims for UFC 175 at Mandalay Bay.
What those eyes witnessed was vintage Urijah Faber, an exciting fighter who closes distances, fights for takedowns, throws punches and looks for finishes.
Faber took down Alex Caceres early in the third down, as he had done throughout much of the first two rounds. He took Caceres' back, sunk in a rear naked choke and earned the submission victory Saturday night. The stoppage came at 1:09 of the third round.
"Enough pressure, guys will make a mistake," Faber said.
Faber (31-7) is ranked No. 2 at bantamweight. Faber pressured No. 12 Caceres (10-6), effectively neutralizing Caceres' four-inch height advantage and his longer legs.
Caceres did make an impressive showing in the first two rounds, withstanding much of Faber's attacks. In the first round, Caceres was taken down 90 seconds in and kept Faber from advancing his position and doing much if any damage from top control.
“I would’ve liked to make that a lot easier but this is the real world and it’s the fight game," Faber said. "People have to understand that things will happen out there and it won’t always be an easy fight. He’s a guy that has a lot of range and he’s creative in the scrambles so I wanted to make it a dirty, ugly fight."
Faber said afterward that he thought he might have broken a rib in the first round.
"Not sure how that happened but it might’ve slowed me down a bit," Faber said.
Faber said he had asked to be on the Fox Sports 1 main event -- his first prelim bout ever in the UFC or WEC -- to increase his exposure via the free-to-air broadcast rather than be on the pay-per-view main card.
