According to a recent report at MMAWeekly.com former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber and former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver are going to fight again on the WEC 38 card slated for January 25, 2009.
Although bout agreements have yet to be signed, sources indicate that both sides have verbally agreed to the rematch.
While this is not concrete confirmation that the two will indeed fight again it does get me thinking as to why the WEC would want to hold this match up again so soon. Besides ratings I see no reason why these two should be matched up again so soon. For one, it sets up Jens Pulver for another potential loss. In their first meeting Faber dominated Pulver, though Pulver was able to mount his own offense in stints. For the majority of the fight it was all Faber. I can see where the WEC, and ZUFFA, want to set up a rematch with Mike Brown as soon as possible but to have an almost immediate rematch with Pulver? I just don't see it. Especially now that Pulver has lost to Leonard Garcia and Faber lost to Mike Brown. Not only is the appeal that they are fighting for a championship lost but now this matchup seems like a win or go home scenario. I'm not saying that the WEC would get rid of two of their most popular fighters but the fight has that sort of feel to it. And if Pulver loses, where does he go from there? I know I may be getting ahead of myself as this fight has not been officially announced but I'm just thinking out loud here.
The last time these two fought was earlier this year at WEC 34, the most successful WEC event to date. Comparing the last WEC events to feature both Faber and Pulver: WEC 34, which featured Faber vs Pulver for the featherweight title, got a 1.4 rating and WEC 36, which featured two championship matches (well one in reality, but it was promoted as two) got a .4 rating. Again, both Faber and Pulver were featured in both cards, just not against each other and WEC 36 even had an added, then subtracted, middleweight title match. So in that respect I can see why the WEC wants this fight to happen again.
After that five round championship fight both fighters went on to lose at WEC 36. Since the loss Faber has been looking to get back immediately into the mix and there were reports that a fight against Jose Aldo was in the works, but apparently talks for that fight have fell apart.
