When you have already been the best in the world, what is left to fight for? Urijah Faber etched himself into the history books during his stint in WEC. “The California Kid” dominated all comers in the promotion, amassing an impressive mixed martial arts record of 21-1, before it all came to a halt. Faber’s fame seemed to be growing from bout to bout throughout his WEC career, as for the most part, the lighter weight classes hadn’t garnered any attention until that point,
and Urijah Faber became the “Ronda Rousey” of the sub-lightweight divisions. (Though Urijah’s more of a guillotine man than an armbar afficionado.) He was the driving force behind the marketing buzz and hype of WEC’s premier divisions.
But on November 5, 2008 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, Faber stepped into the cage against Mike Brown. Faber was arguably a win or two away from being viewed as one of the sport’s biggest stars at this time, and Brown was the polar opposite. Brown was a hard-working, for want of a better word, journeyman, who at that point had yet to find a promotion to call home. He entered the cage viewed by many as a sacrificial lamb being led to slaughter. However, this wasn’t to be the case.
Faber, the -675 favorite, was poleaxed by the more powerful underdog that night. The fighter was dominated at the top of his game, and after losing to Brown once more, Faber found himself in a precarious purgatory; he has been a constant top 3 fighter, but has since never been able to capture gold. Jose Aldo cut him down like a lumberjack that Autumn in his last shot at the featherweight belt, and as it became apparent that the UFC was about to absorb WEC, Faber, the promotional poster boy, was left with no title shot on the horizon in the featherweight division. This led Faber to drop to the bantamweight division, a division he hadn’t competed in since his pre-WEC days.
Faber’s bantamweight odyssey began at WEC 52, where The California Kid made easy work of Takeya Mizugaki. He then moved over to the UFC, where he would make his debut against Eddie Wineland at UFC 128. Wineland himself was in a similar situation to Faber, as he too was attempting to rediscover the form that lead him to become the champion of the world, but he was always on the back foot against Faber. Faber seemed like a man possessed, running through Wineland, a gifted striker, en route to a decision victory.
All great fighters need an equally great adversary to push them forward. Chuck had Tito, Ali had Frazier, and for Uriah Faber, that adversary was Dominick Cruz. Faber and Cruz first met back in WEC. Faber was the dominant champion at the time, whereas Cruz was still a little green in that first encounter. Cruz went the way of many of Faber’s opponents, he was choked out in the first, and few at the time could imagine that the pair would one day meet again in the main event of the UFC’s traditional July 4th weekend PPV.
UFC 132’s battle between the pair was back and forth. Urijah looked good in the opening round, but later began to wane under the pressure of Cruz’s constant varied assault. Cruz’s footwork far surpassed Faber’s, and he was left chasing Cruz for the latter part of the fight, ultimately losing a decision.
Post-UFC 132, Faber bounced back in style with a display of sheer dominance against Brian Bowles. Through the first round Faber displayed a much-improved standup game before returning to his bread and butter in the second and submitting Bowles. This stunning victory led Faber to yet another title shot against Cruz, but unfortunately, this one would never come to fruition.
Faber was booked to coach The Ultimate Fighter Live alongside Cruz. The new format of the show meant that he had to coach for almost 4 months instead of the usual 6 weeks, but Faber was content with this, knowing he would get another shot against his foe Cruz. However, Faber’s next four months ended up being a story of two tragedies. Firstly, following his fight with Bowles, his sister Michaella suffered a near-fatal brain injury in a car accident, an injury that required a long and arduous recovery for the star’s sister. Her recovery played a big part in his emotional well being in the lead-up to his proposed rubber match with Cruz. The next tragedy came for his opponent Cruz, who tore his ACL and was forced out of their title fight, leaving Faber without an opponent. (In fact, Cruz has not fought since.) The UFC eased Faber’s concerns by placing him in an interim title fight against the Brazilian phenom Renan Barao.
By his own admittance, Faber wasn’t in the right head space when he entered the cage at UFC 149 against Barao. His tumultuous year had played havoc with his usual upbeat persona, he entered the cage flat against Barao, Barao dominated, and Faber once more had come up short in a title shot.
11. Urijah Faber vs. Renan Barão (UFC Interim Bantamweight Championship): Renan Barao def. Urijah Faber via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 49-46)
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Following his defeat to Barao, Faber knew things needed to change. He knew his obvious talents weren’t being realized, and obviously feared he would never hold gold again. He hired noted striker Duane Ludwig as head coach of his Sacramento-based Team Alpha Male, and the improvement was immediate.
Team Alpha Male fighters have always been dominant in the lighter divisions, but always lacked a certain je ne sais quoi. Duane Ludwig provided the missing puzzle piece the team needed, which paired with the recovery of Faber’s mentality, meant bad news for the rest of the UFC’s bantamweight division.
2013 was Urijah’s year, as he starched all comers with gusto and displayed an unbelievable improvement in his footwork. Even his punching power, which was always seen as a weakness in the grappling-centric fighter, was improved, as Faber racked off 4 one-sided wins in 2013. He looked forward to taking a break before re-commencing his dominance in 2014, but Faber would never receive his well-deserved rest. A few weeks after his fight with Michael McDonald at UFC on Fox 9, Faber received a call. UFC president Dana White informed Faber that Dominic Cruz had once more injured himself and asked him if he would like to rematch Renan Barao. Faber, in his typical “fight anyone anywhere” style, said yes.
Going into Saturday night’s UFC 169 card, people have questioned whether Faber deserves another title shot after losing his last 5 title fights, and to me this is absolutely absurd. Faber hasn’t ever lost in a non-title fight, and has beat all comers in the UFC. Many have speculated that this is Faber’s final chance to be a UFC champion. This may be true, but in all reality, it means nothing. Urijah Faber will always be the former best in the world at featherweight, and the fact that it wasn’t in the UFC means nothing, as he was truly at the top of the sport in that weight class. No matter what happens on Saturday night, he’ll always have that.
• Renan Barão vs. Urijah Faber 2 (UFC Bantamweight Championship)
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UFC 169: Barao vs. Faber II is due to take place on February 1, 2014 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
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