Build Up: WEC 34 Faber vs. Pulver | Sports by the Numbers MMA

Typically, I've gone through the entire fight card offering a number or two per fight, but with all the big events over this two week stretch I simply can't keep up! That and I am a little behind on the SBTN Texas Rangers book. And by the way, the Rangers are playing great baseball right now...anyway, back to MMA.

There are two WEC title fights scheduled for WEC 34 from the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California. The first features Bantamweights Miguel Torres, the champ, and Yoshiro Maeda. The 135 lb'ers are poised to take a huge leap in popularity as they square off on the big stage.

The second title fight has become something of a monster. The Featherweight title fight between champ Urijah Faber and Jens Pulver has all the makings of an historic fight. Neither man has lost at 145 lbs, and both are absolutely not afraid to mix it up.

971 Miguel Torres has a winning percentage of (97.1) coming into his match up with Yoshiro Maeda. This might be why some scratched their head when he said at the press conference, "...My whole career I've been the underdog..." Well, the 33-1 Torres has fought numerous guys who were bigger than him. Now he has another tough opponent, but he plans unveiling a little more of his game and bringing the fight to Maeda.

828 Yoshiro Maeda's winning percentage is (82.8). It is not often that a guy who is 23-4-2 finds himself fighting somebody with much better record. But that is exactly where Maeda finds himself. But during the press conference he said he'd been through a tough training and, "I think I have the confidence to beat him..." It will be interesting to see if he can in what shapes up to be a fast paced affair.

636 Through Torres' 33 wins (63.6%) have come via submission. If the fight ends in this fashion, most likely Torres will be the victor because Maeda has only submitted two of his opponents through 23 victories. If it remains standing it might go the other way...

607 Maeda has stopped (60.7%) of his opponents via (T)KO. Torres on the other hand has only stopped six in this fashion.

35 Time (0:35) it took former UFC lightweight champ Jens Pulver win his WEC debut by submitting Cub Swanson at WEC 31 Faber vs. Curran. The very next fight saw Faber submit Jeff Curran to set up the dream match up at 145, Faber vs. Pulver.

558 In a combined 52 fights for Pulver and Faber, the percentage (55.8) of times the fight has been ended in round one. With a 22-8-1 record Pulver has 18 first round endings. Faber, who is 20-1, has 11 first round endings. Faber hit the nail on the head when he said this fight was going to be like a tornado and Pulver agreed, saying he didn't think this fight would go past the first round. He also said, "Reality is we're gonna be looking to finish it from the first punch to the last punch...we're supposed to be able to knock people out, grapple, move around, slapping **** and bear hugging, that's for heavyweights, we don't get to do that kind of stuff...whether it goes thirty seconds or twenty-five minutes, you don't want to miss it period!

910 The last and only time Urijah Faber lost came way back on (9/10) of 2005 when he lost to Tyson Griffin at 155 pounds. Now Faber is looking to extend his winning streak to 13 in front of a hometown crowd against a guy who he has looked up to for years.

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