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Opinion & Analysis
:
Keller's Take
WEC PREVIEW 5/26: Faber vs. Pulver - Keller's Random Thoughts in Chronological Order By Wade Keller, MMATorch supervising editor
May 26, 2008 - 4:55:41 PM
WEC OUTSIDE THE CAGE: Faber vs. Pulver One Hour Fight Preview Special Debuted on Versus - May 26, 2008
-The show opened with narrator comments about how some still don't fully respect Uriah Faber, how he'll have a chance to face his toughest opponent to date - Jens Pulver - in front of his own hometown crowd in Sacramenta, Calif. at Arco Arena.
-After showing scenes of Faber training at a nice gym in a ring with a training partner, they contrasted that with Pulver 1,600 miles away in Moline, Ill. inside a neighborhood garage. They played up Pulver's stand-up ability compared to Faber's lack of stand-up displays (because he wins too quickly!).
-They interviewed Jeff Perez's boxing coach, who said the fight could be over really quickly. He said he doesn't get 80 games to prove himself. He gets four months to ready himself to prove himself in one fight. He said those who say he's washed up will be proven wrong. He said it's motivating to have someone to prove wrong.
-Faber said Pulver looked way over 145 pounds at their photo shoot. He said he just got back from Hawaii training with B.J. Penn. He said he asked Pulver to step on the scale, but he wouldn't do it. He also said he gave him a hard time about having a Hawaii Brown instead of a California Tan.
-Headed into the first break, I pretty strongly disagree with this presentation. If someone has heard a buzz about Faber, this did little to establish what makes him so special other than a few seconds of clips of him throwing some lightning fast elbows. Then they tore him down by saying there are still doubters. I get trying to make it seem like both fighters have something to prove, but this is the time to turn Faber into a star before planting seeds of doubt. The hype machine needs to be in full force here to convey what a spectacular phenom he's been in his division so far and tell his story first and get across more so his dynamic style.
-After the first break, clips aired of their promos at the last WEC event, including Faber telling Pulver not to blink during the fight.
-Back to training video, with a focus on Pulver doing his ground training. They showed his various guillotines. His cornerman said if Pulver doesn't bring his A-game, it's over in the first round and he feels bad for Pulver.
-They cut to Pulver ground training, then shifting to cardio training on his bike. Pulver talked about once being the best 155 pounder and being a legend and undefeated UFC fighter for seven fights. "But the truth is, what can I be now?" he said. "That's what I'm chasing after." He said he's the guy people are beginning to say is over the hill and the older guy. He said he's taking on a 28 year machine in his prime who has finishes everybody in fights. "I'm not a soouch. I'm not a bum. I'm a legend in this sport," he said indignantly. "I train like a madman. I fight like a madman. When I fight like a madman, I cannot be beat." The narrator noted he has never lost at 145. I would have led with that part of Pulver's story in the first segment along with the part building up Faber more. That was raw emotions from Pulver, which both built up his considerable credentials and also told the story of the match. I would say the "over the hill" argument seems a little overblown considering they're only four years apart and Pulver is merely 32, the time when Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell were entering their prime.
-Pulver said Pulver is ripped with luscious locks. "Me, I'm just this mutt. A busted tooth. Some of the nasties cauliflower ears anybody's ever seen. Two different colored eyes. If we go by looks, I lose this fight," he said.
-After the second commercial fighter, they showed Faber using a sledgehammer on a tractor tire over and over to train for his fight. The narrator said Faber doesn't know that Pulver is using even more unconventional training techniques. He is going to CFX training center at a strip mall. Pulver said the easiest day is fight day because he can sleep all day and go fight for 25 minutes. He said today's he's already passed 25 minutes and has five hours to go.
-They showed Pulver doing grip exercises such as hanging from ropes, which rip the skin on his hands, then holding barbell plates in multiple sets for excruciating stretches.
-After another commercial, they showed Pulver doing kicks and punches underwater to experience resistance. They cut to Faber jogging in an alley. He said it's not about who can talk, it's about who can go out there and perform. He said he doesn't think much about his opponent because it's all the same to him.
-They went to full sparring with Faber sparring partner saying saying in latter rounds when fighters go to 80 percent, Faber is still at 100 percent and people will be surprised by all of the submissions he has and his knockout power.
-They showed Jens rotating through fighters one minute at a time for five minutes doing ground sparring.
-The narrator said Faber "sees no need to study tapes of Little Evil." They went to Pulver watching Faber tapes "and he's not impressed," said the narrator. Pulver said: "I sure ain't worried about him knocking me out. I damn sure don't mind wrestling with him." I said he constantly moves forward and is relentless. He loves the game of imposing his will on an opponent.
-After another commercial break, they showed Faber standing in Arco Arena and talking about the importance of that arena to him.
-They shifted to promoting Mexican-American bantamweight fighter Miguel Angel Torres training. They showed clips of his WEC Bantamweight Title victory. The narrator said he's now recognized as one of the top ten pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
-The narrator said his opponent, Yoshiro Maeda, built a 22-4-2 record by KOing his opponents while standing up. Torres said he knows he'll take to the fight to the ground and there he'll show him something he's never seen before. Faber said Torres is good at everything, not just a few things, and a true champion.
-They cut to Pulver's latest workout at CFX with a variety of unconventional training approaching, including pushing tires, hammering tires, and the granddaddy, doing pull-ups while holding tennis balls in his hands and balancing them on the top of the bar. He showed how it works muscles in the palm of your hand and helps his grip as he holds a submission or powers out of a submission attempt. He said it's all about inside and outside position of hands in a fight.
-Back to Faber, he said he doesn't believe Pulver is afraid in the least bit. "He doesn't care if he's knocked out or choked out; he's going for a good fight. We're going to rip each other's heads off."
-They showed Faber's father watching his son practice. At age 55, his father still works as a general contractor. He said his son was always "balls to the wall." He said they'd always watching fighting when he was growing up. He took to wrestling n school.
-They went to Pulver who said he thought of getting rid of the name Pulver, but he's keeping it to keep his mother and little brother proud. He said the name, though, represented a lot of bad things - alcoholism, drugs, crime, abuse. He said he's set out to change what the name means.
-The narrator said Pulver is 8-0 at his natural weight of 145 and if he wins the fight, he'll be on top of the world once again.
-QUOTE - Pulver: "I made a mistake saying the day fighting becomes a job is the day I'll quit. The day fighting becomes a job is the day I'm going to do a good-ass job." Great line.
-Faber said he doesn't have to cut much weight, so in the final few days before a fight he relaxes and eats well.
-They showed clips of a movie trailer previewing the fight with two fighters with different backgrounds. Faber said he'll do anything to make sure he's the one proven to be the best fighter in the world (except study tapes of Pulver, that is). He said he'll fight until he can't move. The narrator said: "Who you choose to root for may say more about you than them." Would it be the underdog who's fought his whole life or the hero who makes it look easy when it never really is.
-It closed with final words from both fighters predicting victory.
-Overall, a solid preview program. I think the pacing was too steady throughout. They needed to make things seem more exciting with some changes of pace to the background music. The story they told did a nice job contrasting the fighters' backgrounds, although even that seemed a bit of a stretch since they're only four years apart in age and Faber, billed as having the easier life, grew up the son of a general contractor in a middle class neighborhood (unless he has a really rich mother they didn't talk about). So I've seen better previews and I've been more amped up for fights before after preview shows, but this wasn't bad. I definitely feel I know both fighters better. I just wish there were some objective voices without a dog in the fight talking about the strategies of each fighter, as simple as the announcers chiming in.
