UFC 149: Urijah Faber and a Bunch of Guys You Don't Care About (Yet)

*Interim, but somebody still gets a new accessory!

The interim title fight that headlines Saturday’s card is between former WEC champion Urijah Faber and Brazilian monster, Renan Barao. This Barao kid is supposed to be a killer, but the UFC didn’t do anything to promote him before this fight. At least not to my knowledge. He’s been with Zuffa for 5 fights already (2 WEC, 3 UFC) and it feels like this is the first we’re hearing about him. Luckily, the UFC has created this catchy jingle to help us get to know him.

This is could be a coming out party for Barao and Faber always brings it, but as a headliner… I’m sorry to say that the little guys still don’t capture the imagination of the casual fan. Asking Faber to carry a PPV where Tim Boetsch is the co-headliner is rough.

Boetsch gets the task of welcoming Hector Lombard to the UFC. Lombard hasn’t lost since 2006 and is supposed to be among the challengers to Anderson Silva’s throne now that Chael Sonnen has been vanquished to the 205-pound division.

The guy with the most to gain on this card is former LSU fullback, Shawn Jordan. Jordan is taking on a well-known gate-keeper in Cheick Kongo and if he can get a highlight reel KO he could jump into that next level of known heavyweights.

Before those three fights though… That’s a lot of prelim-worthy stuff. I guess we could get excited about whatever Brian Ebersole will be sporting on his chest, but I’ll pass.

Main Card – PPV – 10pm
Urijah Faber (26-5, 2-1 UFC) vs. Renan Barao (28-1, 1nc, 3-0 UFC)
Tim Boetsch (15-4, 6-3 UFC) vs. Hector Lombard (32-2-1, 1nc, UFC Debut)
Shawn Jordan (13-3, 1-0 UFC) vs. Cheick Kongo (17-7-2, 10-2-1 UFC)
Brian Ebersole (50-14-1, 1nc, 4-0 UFC) vs. James Head (8-2, 1-1 UFC)
Chris Clements (11-4, 1-0 UFC) vs. Matt Riddle (6-3, 6-3 UFC)

Prelims – FX – 8pm
Court McGee vs. Nick Ring
Roland Delorme vs. Francisco Rivera
Ryan Jimmo vs. Anthony Perosh
Bryan Caraway vs. Mitch Gagnon

Prelims – Facebook – 7pm-ish
Antonio Carvalho vs. Daniel Pineda
Mitch Clarke vs. Anton Kuivanen