Sherdog’s Top 10: Brutal Beatdowns

---

10. Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber
April 24, 2010
Faber was the first bona fide star of the lighter weight classes and the linchpin behind much of World Extreme Cagefighting’s success. The small blue cage and its dynamic occupants have become a memorial touchstone for fans, and no fighter better embodies the action-packed legacy of the defunct promotion better than Faber.

“The California Kid” defended the WEC featherweight championship five times before being viciously knocked out by Mike Brown in November 2008. Following the loss, Faber sandwiched impressive wins over Jens Pulver and Raphael Assuncao around another loss to Brown to set up his date with rising star Aldo at WEC 48 -- the promotion’s first and only show on pay-per-view. It would be the Brazilian’s first defense of the title he had won by dominating and destroying Brown.

The oddsmakers installed Aldo as a 3-to-1 favorite, but the Brazilian set out looking calm and measured, getting a bead on his more experienced adversary while essentially giving away the first round on volume. Still, the few low kicks and body shots Aldo landed set him up nicely for the next four frames.

The champion came out much more aggressively in the second. He let his hands go on counters, stinging Faber with a straight right and left hook, and slammed home a series of devastating low kicks. By the middle of the round, Faber was already digging deep into his bag of tricks, faking level changes and coming up with strikes while switching stances liberally in an attempt to hit the defensively slick Brazilian. With 30 seconds left in the round, Aldo landed the eighth of the nine low kicks he slammed into Faber’s leg in the second, and the former champion was noticeably hurt.

Faber was still more or less in the fight at the beginning of the third frame, but all of that changed with a pair of sharp low kicks that left him nearly unable to stand, let alone keep fighting. Aldo grazed him with a high kick and then flurried, and he dropped him with a low kick close to the end of the round. The fourth and fifth frames were no better for Faber, as he landed only a single strike in the last 10 minutes.

It was a clinical, methodical and vicious beating that firmly established Aldo as one of the sport’s premier talents.

Number 9 » Edwards vs. Riley