Urijah Faber Confirmed As Number One Contender

Urijah Faber dogged Brian Bowles last night on the main card of UFC 139: Shogun vs. Henderson, emphatically defeating the former champion via submission in the second round, earning himself a $70,000 Submission of the Night bonus as well as number one contender status.

Though nothing was officially stated beforehand, this fight was seen by most as a battle for title contention; last night at the post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White confirmed that Faber will be the next man to face Dominick Cruz for the UFC bantamweight championship.

"Urijah looked awesome tonight," White said of The California Kid's performance. "No broken hands, no injuries that I'm aware of."

For his part, Faber is excited to get another crack at Cruz, with whom he's gone 1-1 and fought for the belt just two bouts ago. The former WEC featherweight champ doesn't think that Cruz rightfully defeated him last go-round and believes that it's his time to reign as king at 135lbs.

"The belt's one thing, the other thing is people have the idea that Dominick's the best guy out there," said Faber. "He's not tougher than I am, I know that and I don't feel like he proved that he was. I can't wait to get in there and fight again for the belt, and show everyone who the man is."

Mark Wayne is the head writer for FightLine.com. He can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/_MarkWayne.