Another non-title fight, another win for Urijah Faber.
While the “California Kid” has struggled in title fights, he’s been dominant in fights without gold on the line, and that continued at UFC 157 as Faber tapped out Ivan Menjivar with a standing rear naked choke at 4:34 of the first round.
“I just attacked the neck,” he said. “He’s got to honor that. He let me hold on too long and that was it.”
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Faber has won his last six non-title fights. Meanwhile, he’s winless in his last five fights with a belt on the line.
Amazingly, the win could possibly set him up to fight for another belt, as current bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz continues to rehab from two knee surgeries. Faber also has a loss to interim champ Renan Barao, but says he’s ready for another chance.
“I made some adjustments, I’m going to make more,” he said.
Menjivar got off to a good start in this fight, using a throw to take Faber down, but that was really his one and only highlight. Faber quickly reversed him and took the top position, landing several hard elbows in the process. Menjivar eventually found his way back to his feet, but Faber quickly transitioned to his back and sunk his choking arm under Menjivar’s chin.
Even though he was standing, Menjivar couldn’t fight it off and was forced to tap.
Faber is now 27-6 while Menjivar dropped to 25-10.