A crowd of over 14,000 fans rocked Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif. Saturday night to cheer on their hometown hero, Urijah Faber, as he headed to the cage to take on the World Extreme Cagefighting Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo.

All week the buzz has surrounded the city of Sacramento for this fight between Aldo and Faber, the headline bout of WEC 48, which was presented by AMP Energy. The event was the WEC’s first run at putting on a pay-per-view show and Aldo vs. Faber was the biggest fight the promotion could put on.

But just as much as the fans rocked Arco Arena as Faber headed to the cage with “California Love” blasting in the background, was as quiet as the arena got as Aldo picked apart their king in a decisive five-round unanimous decision victory.

“There is no doubt that (Aldo) is one of the best in the world, period,” WEC and UFC President, Dana White, said of the champion after the fight. “That is of all fighters, not just in his weight division. He’s definitely on the pound-for-pound (best fighters) list.”

Aldo came in as the favorite, but the local crowd truly believed in Faber. After all, he has been the city’s rallying cry seeing as their NBA franchise has struggled in recent years. The town even made April 22 “Urijah Faber Day,” earlier in the week. But, early in the first round of Saturday’s fight, it became clear that Faber was out-matched by the younger and faster Aldo.

From the start, Faber struggled to develop his timing in his strikes while Aldo unleashed leg kicks to Faber’s lead left leg. Late in the opening round Faber started to show signs of ware in the leg, and it only got worse as time passed.

“I have strong kicks and I have strong punches and once they started landing, I just went with it,” Aldo said. “My kicks and my strikes are always part of my strategy in any fight.”

Aldo continued to focus on the injured body part and with each blow, Faber’s ability to put weight on the leg decreased and his explosion for takedown attempts quickly became void. Fans watched as their hero became helpless. By the end of the third round, Faber had to be carried to his stool by his coach just to avoid putting weight on the leg.

During the fourth round, Faber found himself trapped on the ground with Aldo on top. Faber was in the dreaded crucifix position where both his arms were trapped, while Aldo poured on elbows and punches for over 90 seconds before the bell sounded.

The final round was anticlimactic as Faber couldn’t mount an offense and Aldo seemed to want to no longer do damage to his opponent. Either that, or he was simply displaying he could do whatever he wanted to do. In the end, Aldo had his hand raised while Faber was taken to the hospital to have his leg checked.

“Every time I step into the cage my goal is to win and finish fights. One part of me is very happy that I won the fight and the other part of me is very sad that my opponent had to go to the hospital,” Aldo said.

The sight of Sacramento’s favorite son being carried out of Arco Arena in a stretcher was symbolic of the devastation the Aldo caused the city and the cloud of doubt that now surrounds the former champion’s career after having lost three of his last five fights, all of which were for the title.

“Urijah is still one of the best in the world in that weight division. Jose just completely shut him down (Saturday night),” White said. “I don’t think Urijah is going to go anywhere. I think he is going to be around for a while.”

The Aldo vs. Faber fight was just one of many during the night. In the co-main event, WEC Lightweight Champion Ben Henderson made short work of his opponent, Donald Cerrone, submitting him with a guillotine choke at 1:57 of the first round. The bout was a rematch of a five-round classic from last October in which Henderson won a close decision. This time around, the champion left no doubt as to who the better fighter was.

“I heard a lot of talk from the critics about which way the decision went last time so this time I wanted to finish,” said Henderson, who earned $65,000 for Submission of the Night. “If I had to run through a brick wall to finish the fight, I was going to do it.”

In the biggest upset of the night, Manny Gamburyan scored a TKO win over former WEC Featherweight champion, Mike Brown at 2:22 of the first round. Brown struggled to get Gamburyan’s timing down in the opening minutes before Gamburyan caught him with a right hook in an exchange that dropped him. Gamburyan then quickly pounced on Brown with hammer fists to earn the stoppage and likely make him the No. 1 contender for to Aldo’s belt.

“Jose is a true champion and I respect him a lot but one day, I would like to fight him,” said Gamburyan, who won Knockout of the Night honors for another $65,000 bonus. “I feel like I’m the No. 1 contender in the division, but I’ll fight anyone that the WEC puts in front of me.”

Shane Roller had an impressive win over Anthony Njokuani during the main card. Roller quickly took down the longer Njokuani before he could land a strike and progressed into a dominant position over the next few minutes before securing a rear-naked choke for the win at 3:07 of the first round.

Scott Jorgensen and Antonio Banuelos opened the main card on PPV with Jorgensen earning a unanimous decision win. Banuelos controlled the first round with his striking, but Jorgensen turned it up in the final two rounds, breaking Banuelos’ nose with his punches and knees. As Banuelos tired, Jorgensen took over and decisively won the final two rounds for the victory.

The undercard featured six solid bouts, highlighted by an absolute slugfest between featherweights Leonard Garcia and Chan Sung Jung. For 15 minutes, the two exchanged blows to a standing ovation from the crowd.

“Everything came together for us and these two went out and showed what the lighter weights can do,” White said. “You couldn’t have picked a better fight to lead into the pay-per-view. These two are definitely the (Stephan) Bonner-(Forrest) Griffin of the lighter weight division. There is no doubt about it. It was awesome.”

In the opening round, Jung caught Garcia with some big blows, but Garcia kept pushing forward and throwing everything he had in him.

The trend continued into the second round with Garcia throwing caution to the wind and catching Jung with some big punches. Jung answered back, even knocking out Garcia’s mouth piece at one point, but neither could be put away. Garcia actually broke his hand during the round, but it didn’t keep him from throwing bombs.

In the third, both men were clearly fatigued but still threw everything they had left. The round was close, but the aggression and crowd appeal of Garcia seemed to win over the judges as he was given a split decision.

“I would love to have a fight like that every month,” Garcia said of the bout. “I knew we would have an exciting fight and there was no quit in him and no quit in me.”

Jung collapsed in disappointment following the loss, but a $65,000 bonus check for Fight of the Night honors was enough to raise his spirits.

“I think Leonard Garcia is a great athlete and I was really glad to fight him,” Jung said. “Right after the fight, I felt like I won. I haven’t seen the tape and we can’t turn back time, so I accept the decision.”

In another undercard bout, hometown boy Chad Mendes defeated Anthony Morrison with a guillotine choke at 2:13 into the opening round. Mendes, who is sponsored by AMP Energy along with Faber, celebrated the win with a back flip in the cage.

“For the last two weeks all I kept going over was the front-headlock guillotine,” Mendes said. “The crowd was unbelievable. I mean I knew they were going to be crazy before but that was awesome.”

WEC 48 capped off a big weekend for the organization and for AMP Energy, which heavily promoted the event in Sacramento in hopes to create more awareness of the WEC promotion as well as the AMP Energy product.

We would like to thank AMP for providing us with access to the AMP Energy fighters and the PPV event over the weekend.

World Extreme Cagefighting breaks into the Pay-Per View market on Saturday for WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber, presented by AMP Energy, from the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California.

The main card features five fights, including two title bouts. Here is a look at each fight and my expected outcomes.

WEC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo (16-1) vs. Urijah Faber (23-3): This fight is a big one. Not just for the WEC, but for MMA as a whole. Aldo is the young phenom at 24, who has dominated his opponents in a quick and explosive fashion. Faber is the former champion who was considered an unstoppable phenom years ago. Now, at 30, a loss for Faber could change the entire outlook on his career. He will have the bonus of fighting in his hometown, but that won’t matter in the cage. Look for this fight to be explosive but for Faber to utilize his strength and wrestling to get the fight to his advantage. If Faber can survive the opening explosion from Aldo, the fight is his. I suspect Faber will survive and earn a submission win in the fourth round.

WEC Lightweight Champion Ben Henderson (11-1) vs. Donald Cerrone (11-2, 1 No Contest: This is a rematch of a classic fight less than a year ago. These two are both tremendous grapplers and leave it all in the cage. While it would be hard to imagine the two living up the first five-round war, this fight should be a tremendous scrap. Look for Cerrone to have improved his game plan more from the first fight than Henderson and earn his way to a decision win to secure the championship.

WEC Featherweight Bout – Mike Brown (23-5) vs. Manny Gamburyan (12-5): This fight plays well into Brown’s hands as Manny’s strengths are also Brown’s strengths. Brown is the bigger, stronger fighter of the two. Gamburyan will have to win the fight on his feet, but that won’t happen with Brown, who will simply use his size to get Gamburyan to the ground. Look for Brown to win by decision or third round TKO from ground and pound.

WEC Lightweight Bout – Anthony Njokuani (13-2) vs. Shane Roller (7-2): Njoukuani is making his way up the ladder as he has won his last three fights by TKO. His length is his biggest strength and will be what causes problems for Roller. Roller has won his last two fights, but not in as impressive fashion. He has the wrestling edge, and he will need to get the fight to the ground, but to do so, he will have to eat a knee or a leg from Njokuani. With that said, that knee or leg should be enough to rock Roller and allow Njokuani to get the first round TKO win.

WEC Bantamweight Bout – Antonio Banuelos (18-5) vs. Scott Jorgensen (9-3): This is also a rematch of a close fight from last June that Banuelos won by split decision. This is a fight of two good wrestlers, so the fighter that exhibits better striking will have the edge. Jorgensen looks to be determined to erase this loss, and I suspect he will avenge it by earning a decision win thanks to superior stand up.

The Scores Report and Bullz-Eye.com will be providing live updates of tonight’s fights on Twitter @bullzeyedotcom. Thanks to AMP Energy for their efforts to make Bullz-eye part of WEC 48.

Urijah Faber is known as the “California Kid,” but Saturday won’t be this “kid’s” first go-around.

The 30-year-old veteran of World Extreme Cagefighting faces the biggest fight of his career this Saturday when he takes on WEC Featherweight Champion, Jose Aldo.

That title contest will be the main event of WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber presented by AMP, from the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif.

“For me, I am fighting one guy who is going to be trying to beat me up and I am going to be trying to beat him up. It is pretty primal for me,” said Faber during a conference call on Tuesday.

Aside from the pressures of having a title fight in his hometown of Sacramento, the WEC is also entering into the pay-per-view market for the first time on Saturday night.

The broadcast airs live on PPV starting at 10PM ET/7PM PT.

“When you make the jump to pay-per-view, you have to do it the right way,” said Dana White, President of the WEC and UFC, of putting the WEC on pay-per-view. “I truly believe that this is the card to do it with. This card is stacked with tons of great talent. If the Aldo-Faber fight is not fight of the year, it will definitely be a contender for fight of the year.”

A former featherweight champion in his own right, Faber steps into the cage with a 23-3 record. He went unbeaten for over three years from Sept. 10, 2005 to Nov. 5, 2008 and was largely considered an unstoppable force in Mixed-Martial Arts.

Now, Faber meets the new unstoppable force in MMA in Aldo, who at 24-years-old, sports a 16-1 record and has won his last nine fights, a streak that started in May of 2006. His last six fights have ended by TKO.

“I don’t think it is any surprise what I am going to do,” Aldo said. “Everyone sees my style of fighting. I come in aggressive, I come in explosive. I am going to come in always looking for the knockout and will take whatever (Urijah) can give me.”

Faber, who is the more experienced fighter, isn’t looking to change up his game plan much but wants to focus on being mobile.

“I don’t exactly know what I will do different,” Faber said. “He’s an explosive guy and I am an explosive guy as well. Footwork is going to be important, but I am ready for anything.”

The Faber vs. Aldo matchup is one of five fights on the pay-per-view card. The co-main event is WEC Lightweight Champion Ben Henderson (11-1) defending his title against Donald Cerrone (11-2, 1 No Contest) in a rematch of their Oct. 19, 2009 bout in which Henderson won a close decision.

“I know Donald will be bringing his A game and you better believe I will be bringing mine,” Henderson said of the rematch. “We are going out there looking to rinse and repeat, you know. There is nothing special about it. There are no hidden agendas, there is no unnecessary talk about we are going to do this or we are going to do that. You guys are going to see it. Come (Saturday) you guys are going to see it.”

The pay-per-view event is sponsored by AMP Energy Drink, which is continuing its strong partnership with the WEC.

“When you look at what the WEC is about and what it stands for, it fits well with AMP and what we stand for,” Pat Santangelo, proprietor of power for AMP Energy, said. “We at AMP understand that the WEC is about sustained energy and discipline and that is what our product is about. We don’t overload you with energy and you crash later, we provide a product that allows you to sustain a high level of energy in a cool and confident manner. This is a big event for the WEC and a lot of eyes are going to be on it this weekend and we just wanted to throw our weight behind it and show our support for the WEC.

Along with its work with the WEC, AMP also sponsors Faber and other members of the WEC roster.

AMP’s current campaign with Faber has been seen all over national television, as the company followed Faber on the day of his last fight against Raphael Assuncao on Jan. 10.

The ad promotion focuses on the energy anticipation Faber had leading to his fight and the natural evolution of his energy building toward the beginning of the fight.

“AMP believes in energy anticipation and the in the campaign with Urijah you see the energy building for the fight,” Santangelo said. “You see the progression of the night for Urijah from the taping to the tapping to the fight.”

Leading into Saturday’s PPV event, AMP has set up a 10 Days to Fight Night promotion, which is a digital campaign that features a video of Faber each day leading up to the fight.

The promotion started began April 15 and will run until Saturday’s event. The videos and the new Faber commercial can be seen at www.ampenergy.com.

AMP is also working on another promotion with the WEC called Hometown Takedown in which a WEC event can be brought to a selected city near you.

Approximately 30 different cities will be listed and fans will be able to vote which city they would most like to see host a WEC event. The winning city will host a WEC event later this year. Voting will be open in June and can be done online and through texting.

“The WEC events have found their home mostly in Las Vegas and California and we know there are consumers around the country that want the WEC to come to their home,” Dave Mingey, captain of kinetics for AMP Energy, said. “We are hoping this promotion can generate a lot of buzz for AMP and the WEC and provide fans with a chance to see their favorite fighters in person.”

AMP Energy will be present all weekend in Sacramento and is giving me the opportunity to provide readers with updates and backstage access to Faber, as well as other WEC fighters as they prepare for this monumental event for the organization.

Be sure to check out more on The Scores Report and Bullz-Eye.com each day for more updates on WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber.