Author: Adam Wells

Urijah Faber’s big moment came and went on Saturday at UFC 132 against Dominick Cruz with him falling just short in his quest to become the bantamweight championship. He did have moments where he looked good, like he could steal three rounds and win the fight, but it was not meant to be.

He lost a unanimous decision on scores of 50-45, 49-46 and 48-47. The judge who scored the fight 50-45 should be stripped of their license because they have no idea how to score a fight, because there is no way that Cruz won all five rounds but that’s another story.

It was clear to everyone watching the fight that Cruz had won. He did more over the course of five rounds to earn a decision in the fight. It wasn’t one-sided by any means, but he was the winner and the judges made the right decision.

Apparently the decision wasn’t as clear if you were standing in the cage because “The California Kid” thinks that he did more than enough to earn the win.

“Things that worked for me – I think we’re both reaction fighters,” Faber said at the post-fight press conference. “I was trying not to react too much to his movement – just kind of stalk him and take his best shots and land the heavier shots.

“I know I landed some heavy shots in there and rocked him a couple of times, and apparently it wasn’t enough, so I’ll have to see exactly what happened.

“He used the kicks quite a bit, but I was blocking a lot of them. Even the high kicks – not one connected. A couple of the low kicks connected, but I think the main factor must have been the amount of punches because that’s the only thing that I can think of.”

If you look at the stats from the fight, they do tell an interesting story. According to Compustrike, Cruz landed 99 total punches to Faber’s 74. Faber landed 45 power strikes to 38 for Cruz.

But that’s just one part of the story. Even when Cruz got knocked down he didn’t look to be in trouble. He just got up and reset himself. Neither guy was close to ending the fight, so you have to judge based on skill and technique. In doing that you will see that Cruz clearly won. You could have made a case that it was three rounds to two, but it looked more like four rounds to one.

Faber might think that he did enough to win the fight, but when he does back and looks at the tape he will see that Cruz was the better man.

Melvin Guillard has made quite an impression on UFC brass having won his last five fights, including a ferocious knockout of Shane Roller in the first round of their fight at UFC 132. All of this has led some to wonder whether he is in line to face the winner of the Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard fight.

You can make a compelling argument for him, and on the list of best 155-pound fighters it doesn’t take long before you get to his name. In fact if you ask Guillard, he will tell you that he is the best 155-pound fighter in the world right now.

“I am the best 155-pounder,” Guillard said in an interview with MMAjunkie.com. “I’m a finisher. No disrespect to Frankie Edgar or Gray Maynard, but they proved it in the last fight when they fought each other. Gray had him on his heels and didn’t finish. I’m a finisher. I go in for the kill. I smell blood.”

If you believe that finishing people is a prerequisite to determining who is the best fighter, you could make a legitimate case for Guillard as the best in the division.

Edgar and Maynard have no power to speak of and aren’t exactly killing it in the submission category, either. Jim Miller has a lot of submission wins in his career, but has only three in 10 UFC fights. He isn’t a knockout artist by any means. Ben Henderson, Anthony Pettis and Clay Guida are exciting to watch and could make a case as being right up there with Guillard in the finisher category.

But as far as guys with true knockout power, there is no one in the division that can touch him. He has seven knockouts in his UFC career, including three in his last four fights. He is as fast as anyone and can make good fighters, like a Shane Roller, look completely inept in the cage.

Edgar is still the class of the division until someone beats him, but Guillard is rapidly approaching in the rear-view mirror.

George Sotiropoulos was in must-win mode at UFC 132 against Rafael dos Anjos. He was coming off a crushing unanimous decision loss to Dennis Siver in February and needed a win if he had any hopes of keeping his name in the crowded lightweight title picture.

So when the bell rang, Sotiropoulos, a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and wrestling expert, should have been attacking and trying to get the fight to the ground. Instead, dos Anjos caught him with a big sweeping right hand to the jaw and he collapsed like he was dead.

And that is the end of Sotiropoulos as a contender in the lightweight division. There are few weight classes in MMA that are as crowded near the top as the 155-pound division and every win is so critical and every loss is so crippling. When you lose two fights back-to-back, you have a lot of work to do in order to even get back on the totem pole, let alone a shot at the title.

It doesn’t help Sotiropoulos’ case that another lightweight, Melvin Guillard, made such a strong impression on everyone with his lightning quick knockout of Shane Roller right after Sotiropoulos was knocked out.

There are at least seven guys that are ahead of him in the division (Guillard, Gray Maynard, Jim Miller, Clay Guida, Ben Henderson, Anthony Pettis, Dennis Siver) and it’s going to take a long time for everything in the division to sort itself out.

Sotiropoulos will have to go back to fighting some lesser known guys or mediocre guys for the time being until he proves that he can still go with the cream of the lightweight crop.

At age 33, Sotiropoulos’ prime years are slipping away from him. The first loss against Siver wasn’t a career killer, but this loss coupled with that one makes Sotiropoulos look more and more like a placeholder in UFC and not a real contender.