Following his devastating loss to WEC featherweight champion Jose Aldo at WEC 48, Urijah Faber is done with the 145-pound division, at least for the moment. The former longtime featherweight champion has dropped down to the 135-pound division and will meet former bantamweight top contender Takeya Mizugaki on August 18.
The match up was announced earlier today by MMAweekly.com, who learned of the bout from sources close to the fight.
The move down to bantamweight for Faber comes off the heels of the worst loss of his career. Aldo’s five round decimation of him sparked rumors that he would possibly make the jump down to 135 pounds. Faber, the most dominant featherweight in the history of the sport thus far, has struggled to regain his championship status since losing his title to Mike Brown at WEC 36, which snapped a 13-fight winning streak. Faber is 2-2 since losing his title, something he has failed on two other occasions to win back.
Faber’s opponent, Mizugaki, knows all about falling short of the championship mark. Mizugaki earned a title shot with his debut in the promotion against Miguel Torres at WEC 40. After 25 minutes of action, Torres defeated the top contender on points. Mizugaki is 2-1 since his debut loss with wins over Jeff Curran and Rani Yahya, along with his upset loss to Scott Jorgensen.
Mizugaki will welcome Faber into the bantamweight division on August 18 at WEC 50. No other match ups have been reported, or even rumored, for the card later this year. The event will take place at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada and will follow up this month’s upcoming WEC 49.
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