Pic: Urijah Faber broken rib from Renan Barao fight at UFC 149

After Urijah Faber went a full five rounds and 25 minutes against Renen Barao, who proved himself to be one of the best bantamweights in the world, at UFC 149 last night (July 21, 2012) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he said he thought he may have broken a rib.

He was right.

He tweeted the above photo to prove as much.

Congrats 2 @RenanBaraoUFC. He's a tough dude. Broke my rib in the 1st with a great knee. Thank u 4 all the support

Faber wasn't as quick on the draw throughout the fight, consistently getting beat to the punch by Barao, who appeared to have a sizable speed advantage. Perhaps the broken rib can help explain it?

Either way, this is the fourth consecutive title fight "The California Kid" has lost spanning two separate weight classes. Considering the circumstances, it's unfortunate this injury happened when it did. But as Gus Johnson would say, "These things happen in MMA."

For more on Faber's loss to Barao click here, here, and here and for complete UFC 149 results and blow-by-blow coverage of all the night's action click here.