Urijah Faber was actually the favorite of the MMA fans when he went against Frankie Saenz last Saturday during UFC 194. Even though Faber had to work very hard in order to win the fight, it was all worth it because he was able to win the bout by unanimous decision.
Faber, who has a record of 33-8 MMA and 9-4, has been on the losing side in the bantamweight division since WEC 52. Faber lost three title bouts before he won last Saturday. He lost to Renan Barao two times, and once to Dominick Cruz.
He was once a dominant MMA WEC featherweight champ before, but just like any great fighter, he faced a lot of difficult times as well. Faber lost six title fights back to back across two different weight classes. But this losing streak didn’t last long. When Faber moved to the bantamweight division, he finally met his success. He is now currently ranked 5th in the NOS Energy Drink MMA bantamweight rankings. Aside from this, Faber is very popular to MMA fans so it’s really difficult not to give him one more chance to win the gold.
With a fight between Faber’s then-friend T.J. Dillashaw, who holds a current record of 12-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC, and former contender Cruz (20-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) scheduled this coming January 17th in the UFC Fight Night 81, it looks like the epic fight between friends-turned-enemies is already on its way.
In a recent interview with MMAjunkie, Faber admitted that this is indeed a classic story.
“I would say the one that everyone wants to see is the classic story. It’s kind of a mix between ‘Rocky IV’ and ‘Rocky V.’ My boy (Sylvester) Stallone actually left a voice message and gave a little Rocky Balboa shout out. It really doesn’t matter too much to me. I’m not here for a long time. I’m here for a good time and fighting for the title is what my goal is. I took myself off the market for a while. It’s kind of a weird thing when you’ve been at the top of any division you’ve been in for your entire career to take a back seat because of a friendship. That’s off the table now. I’ve been released from the friendship. So, I’m going to train my butt off and I’m hoping I get that call and I’ll be ready,” Faber said.