Urijah Faber

(If he can handle that, he can handle anything.)

According to a new report by MMA Weekly, former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber will return to action for the first time since his decision loss to Mike Brown in June, when he takes on top contender Raphael Assuncao at WEC 46 (January 11th, Sacramento). Faber has spent the last few months rehabbing the hand injuries he suffered against Brown, but described the January event as "perfect timing for me."

Though Assuncao may not be a household name yet, the 14-1 submission specialist has won both of his appearances in the WEC (decisions over Jameel Massouh and Yves Jabouin) and we consider him to be one of the ten best featherweights in the world right now. Faber vs. Assuncao is slated to be WEC 46's co-main event, supporting the lightweight title unification bout between Jamie Varner and Benson Henderson — unless Henderson needs more time to recover from his own injuries, in which case it'll be up to the California Kid to carry the card. Will Faber be able to re-establish himself in the division he ruled for almost three years, or will Assuncao put himself on that map as the WEC's next featherweight star?

(Props: caposa3)

MMA compilation-video specialist "Caposa" has just released the fourth installment of a series featuring the year's most memorable knockouts and submissions in North America. He also has a separate series devoted to Japanese MMA; you can see that, as well as parts 1-3 of this series, by clicking here. And if you do delve deeper into his work, you'll notice that Caposa favors understated ambient music to soundtrack his vids, adding a soothing counterpoint to the visual brutality. Great stuff. This guy just might join the ranks of such MMA highlight reel legends as GenghisCon and me.

As part of his ongoing attempt to Twitter the shit out of his recovery from a broken hand suffered in the WEC title fight with Mike Brown, former featherweight champ Urijah Faber recently posted pictures of his brand new working hand.  No more sickeningly crooked bones for “The California Kid.”  Now it’s just a few stitches and some painful memories.  Thanks, science. 

But lest his spirits get down after the decision loss followed by surgery and physical therapy, he got a ‘Get Well’ card from Mrs. Hilsabeck’s second-grade class.  Sweet, right?  But to the kid who wrote “You are the best!” right there in the middle – you just refuse to accept the updated rankings, don’t you?  Nothing but a bunch of nuthuggers in Mrs. Hilsabeck’s class.

Gash of the year, right there; props to Bloody Elbow for the tip. Video of the Jose Aldo flying knee that gave him that cut is below, and some more WEC 41 fights are after the jump in case you missed the show on Sunday.

(How's taste this career-shattering loss? Photo by Esther Lin for Showtime Sports.)

What a weekend of fights, and amazingly, all without the benefit of the initials “UFC.”  Instead we had Strikeforce and the WEC (okay, a Zuffa property, but still) teaming up to blow our minds without charging us fifty bucks for a pay-per-view.  Now we begin the difficult task of using the Potato Index’s completely arbitrary numerical rankings system to see who’s up and who’s down after the eventful weekend.

Mike Brown +209
He beat Faber fair and square, no flukes needed, and he also proved he can last through five tough rounds.  Instead of making broken hand-related excuses for Faber, let’s finally all give Brown the unqualified props he clearly deserves.

Urijah Faber -37
We can play the ‘what if?’ game with his broken hand all we want, but that’s the fight game.  That he still fought well and fought hard afterwards, even in a losing effort, deserves to be mentioned.  But he’s not the world’s best featherweight as long as Brownie is around, and that deserves mentioning too.