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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Urijah Faber made a statement in his bantamweight debut, and the WEC avoided a potentially tragic finish to the end of the card as he choked Takeya Mizugaki unconscious in the first round of their main event bout at WEC 52.
The scary part to the fight came as Mizugaki refused to tap to a fight ending rear naked choke, but as he went out the two rolled to the cage, and referee Josh Rosenthal could not see if Mizugaki was still fighting the choke or not. When the fight was finally stopped, Mizugaki's body was in a horrific configuration as he was unconscious, but thankfully he recovered fairly quickly and was able to walk out of the cage.
The performance was a masterful one from Faber, who locked on the rear naked choke after an extremely fast transition to Mizugaki's back in a scramble against the cage. After Mizugaki tried to fight it off, Faber finally locked it on and Mizugaki went out cold. It was the first time Mizugaki had been finished by a submission hold.
Faber now places himself into the forefront of the bantamweight migration to the UFC. With Dominick Cruz and Scott Jorgensen squaring off in December on the final WEC card, it's highly likely the winner of that fight will meet Faber in the UFC's first ever Bantamweight Championship bout in 2011.
Penick's Analysis: "The California Kid" looked excellent at 135 lbs., and while the first part of that round was fairly even in the clinch, the speed with which Faber was able to transition to taking Mizugaki's back in the scramble was awesome. There's not much more you can say about that. This was the biggest fight for Faber, as he had a lot to lose before this UFC merger, but in finishing the fight the way he did, he'll have a chance to elevate his star beyond anything he's done to this point. Starting anew in the bantamweight division, Faber can absolutely go on another lengthy run in this division and become the new face of the lighter weights as the UFC introduces them in 2011.
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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