Prime/WEC Champ Faber vs Aljo at 135

[FilipEmoFights]

Who wins this?
Specifically the grappling exchanges
How do you guys see this going in a 5 round fight?

 

[corrupted]

Exactly the same as the actual fight played out at 145

 

[Based and White Pilled]

Exactly the same as the actual fight played out at 145

Read it again, brother

 

[corrupted]

Read it again, brother

So hungover. Thought it read Aldo. Thank you for not flaming.

Heart Faber.
Head Aljo.

I never really thought a huge amount of Faber's wrestling TBH.

I can't remember a fight where he used it offensively that effectively ...

 

[ExitLUPin]

Faber. Better grappler, not as varied a submission game but tighter, better scrambler, better athlete, better cardio, far more explosive and much more power. Aljo's awkward striking only works against fighters scared of the TD when he can throw wild ass stuff effectively and when fighters don't want to go to the mat with him. Faber would welcome it. Power would be the difference in the standup. Look at what Urijah did to Mayday standing. Also had much more success in the striking and grappling against Mizugaki and Assuncao than Aljo did (Aljo lost to Assuncao too). Faber is also Ricky Simon's last loss in his final hurrah and he KOd him in under a minute. And that was a shot Faber but shows how much power he had.

 

[HuskySamoan]

So hungover. Thought it read Aldo. Thank you for not flaming.

Heart Faber.
Head Aljo.

I never really thought a huge amount of Faber's wrestling TBH.

I can't remember a fight where he used it offensively that effectively ...

Faber's game feels pretty antiquated but we never really got to see him, in his prime at 135lbs. He was a damn good all-rounder, athletic, aggressive, high paced, great cardio, aggressive standup, solid wrestling and great grappling. He was in his late 30s and near the tail end of his career but his wins over Saenz and Simon aged well, Saenz around that time beat Merab Dvalishvili and was a solid D1 wrestler Simon ended up becoming a top 10 level dude. I know Faber vs Cruz 1, Faber obviously won by submission but the rematch at 135lbs when Cruz was champion in 2011 was super back and forth, I remember people arguing over who won that fight at the time. We just saw how an old, shopworn, injury ridden Cruz looked vs Chito Vera winning rounds and outworking the guy until getting caught in the 4th.

I'd favor Aljo, but there's a lot of reason to believe you take a 27 year old Urijah Faber in his prime and drop him in the 135lb division today he'd probably be good enough to contend for a title.

 

[corrupted]

Faber's game feels pretty antiquated but we never really got to see him, in his prime at 135lbs. He was a damn good all-rounder, athletic, aggressive, high paced, great cardio, aggressive standup, solid wrestling and great grappling. He was in his late 30s and near the tail end of his career but his wins over Saenz and Simon aged well, Saenz around that time beat Merab Dvalishvili and was a solid D1 wrestler Simon ended up becoming a top 10 level dude. I know Faber vs Cruz 1, Faber obviously won by submission but the rematch at 135lbs when Cruz was champion in 2011 was super back and forth, I remember people arguing over who won that fight at the time. We just saw how an old, shopworn, injury ridden Cruz looked vs Chito Vera winning rounds and outworking the guy until getting caught in the 4th.

I'd favor Aljo, but there's a lot of reason to believe you take a 27 year old Urijah Faber in his prime and drop him in the 135lb division today he'd probably be good enough to contend for a title.

He would absolutely be a problem for anyone. His athleticism combined with his attitude. That fucker was tough. The Aldo legs were one thing ...

But two broken hands for two rounds v Brown. That shit was "Rocky Movie" tough

 

[HuskySamoan]

He would absolutely be a problem for anyone. His athleticism combined with his attitude. That fucker was tough. The Aldo legs were one thing ...

But two broken hands for two rounds v Brown. That shit was "Rocky Movie" tough

Faber was so much smaller than those guys, it still blows my mind Aldo went down in weight, Aldo was noticeably bigger than everyone he fought at 135lbs too. Brown was just huge compared to Faber, looking at their weigh in picture now, the power advantage Mike Brown had standing along with a good wrestling base (he was State champion in Highschool and wrestled D3 in college) was just too much, Faber couldn't get anything going. I agree though, Faber had those intangibles, athletic, insane conditioning, extremely driven, toughness, along with being an intelligent guy.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Faber was so much smaller than those guys, it still blows my mind Aldo went down in weight, Aldo was noticeably bigger than everyone he fought at 135lbs too. Brown was just huge compared to Faber, looking at their weigh in picture now, the power advantage Mike Brown had standing along with a good wrestling base (he was State champion in Highschool and wrestled D3 in college) was just too much, Faber couldn't get anything going. I agree though, Faber had those intangibles, athletic, insane conditioning, extremely driven, toughness, along with being an intelligent guy.

I think in general most people in the WEC were fighting a weight class up. Joe, Pickett, Jorgensen and Mighty Mouse were at 135, Faber, Cruz (for a while), Assuncao etc all at 145 etc etc.

 

[Masturbin]

Aljo is the better striker by far.
He's also the better scrambler a bjj artist.
He's bigger also.


Aljo just need to outstrike Faber which he can easily do. He will maybe lose the 5th but that's it.
Faber needs to get a takedown (hard) and then keep Aljo down (even harder), gnp/sub aljo/ do it multiple time (nearly impossible).

I don't see it.

Also Aljo trains daily with a better version of Faber.

 

[G10]

Prime Faber beats Aljamain 9/10 times.

Faber hits much harder, is a much better offensive wrestler, and I would bet his conditioning is better, too. Most importantly, in close to 50 pro fights, Faber has been submitted zero times. Aljo would have to fight a perfect game for 25 minutes while Faber just needs to land one over-hand and go in for the kill.

 

[Flboycanscrap2]

Faber by Guillotine.

 

[jitzmonkey]

So hungover. Thought it read Aldo. Thank you for not flaming.

Heart Faber.
Head Aljo.

I never really thought a huge amount of Faber's wrestling TBH.

I can't remember a fight where he used it offensively that effectively ...

Faber was always a little to wild for my liking; although he was fun to watch a cheer for.

Faber. Better grappler, not as varied a submission game but tighter, better scrambler, better athlete, better cardio, far more explosive and much more power. Aljo's awkward striking only works against fighters scared of the TD when he can throw wild ass stuff effectively and when fighters don't want to go to the mat with him. Faber would welcome it. Power would be the difference in the standup. Look at what Urijah did to Mayday standing. Also had much more success in the striking and grappling against Mizugaki and Assuncao than Aljo did (Aljo lost to Assuncao too). Faber is also Ricky Simon's last loss in his final hurrah and he KOd him in under a minute. And that was a shot Faber but shows how much power he had.

Speed vs. technique is what it comes down to.

 

[DontBeMad]

Good match up, Faber chances are pretty high due to lack of power in Aijo's hands, Faber may have the speed advantage and is pretty good in a scramble. IDK if Aijo can backpack Faber but I'm pretty sure Faber can defend chokes. I think it would be competitive, plus lil OG Faber got heart...
I just not sold on Aijo yet (that doesn't mean he's bad), his wins leaves me with more questions than answers but its a great fight though.

 

[FilipEmoFights]

Thank you for the replies Gentleman, sadly I’m still recovering from Hurricane Ian and multiple trees took down my power lines as well as the closest Cell tower providing my service so I’ve lacked ability to get back to you, but I agree with most on Urijah likely overtaking Aljo in terms of grappling, power, durability, and cardio. Although Yan beat Urijah at 42 I just watched the fight again and Faber had Yan rocked a few times and still fights with great speed and reflexes. Urijah was so fun to watch back in the day and is probably STILL the best fighter to come out of Sacramento/ Team Alpha Male.
Saw Cub Swanson asking to fight Urijah recently just to figure out the real Cali legend at 135/145

but Cub just had some terrible first round performances against Aldo and even Jens Pulver (whom got a 145 title shot after choking Cub in like 30 seconds)
Man I miss the WEC and the weird flaming tat graphics

 

[Magrabie1988]

Faber subs him