Urijah Faber’s Instincts Compelled Return, Along With a Nudge From Conor McGregor
At 40-years-old, Urijah Faber
is already in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Fame. A former
World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion, Faber fell
short in all four of his UFC title shots. Despite those losses,
"The California Kid" left the sport of mixed martial arts ranked in
the top 10 of the bantamweight division.
After two-and-a-half years away from the sport, Faber is set to return to the Octagon to face rising prospect Ricky Simon in a bantamweight bout on July 13 in his hometown of Sacramento, California. UFC Sacramento will be headlined by a women's bantamweight match between former featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie and surging star Aspen Ladd.
Faber spoke to former UFC welterweight Dan Hardy
about some of the factors that motivated his return to the cage.
From a fighter's perspective, Faber cites distasteful behavior from
unnamed peers as the reason for making his comeback.
"But you can see some weasels come through, you know, like the people that are shade balls and like now [all] of sudden you're not as influential and so they can f---in' turn on you and that kind of stuff," said the fighter. "So, like, there's little pieces of that throughout that have been kind of irking me and I'm just like, man, I feel like I'd like to beat this person up."
Known for his business prowess outside of the cage, Faber also admitted to Hardy that the promise of certain financial gains proved enticing. "Then on the business side of things, there's like all these opportunities. You know, I talked about, I got these gyms going, and I've got some real estate projects going, some entertainment stuff going, and as an entrepreneur, you're always thinking, how can I raise some funds for this or get an investor on that. And I'm like, I've been itching to fight, and you can just go raise the funds yourself. And, you know, this money could turn into this money, could turn into that money, because I know how to do that. Which, not every fighter can do."
One of the other influences, although it seems Faber relayed this anecdote more for comedic effect than as a legitimate incentive, is his occasional conversations with UFC lightweight Conor McGregor about former Team Alpha Male teammate T.J. Dillashaw.
"Conor and I talk on occasion and he's always, like, clawing at me like 'Go get that snake, go get that weasel. Jump out and surprise him now that he's got caught cheating,'" joked Faber. "'The story's not over.' You know how Conor is," said the new father. "We have little private conversations on occasion like that, and I'm just thinking, my mouth's kind of like a little watery and all these different opportunities and it sounds like fun."
After two-and-a-half years away from the sport, Faber is set to return to the Octagon to face rising prospect Ricky Simon in a bantamweight bout on July 13 in his hometown of Sacramento, California. UFC Sacramento will be headlined by a women's bantamweight match between former featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie and surging star Aspen Ladd.
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"But you can see some weasels come through, you know, like the people that are shade balls and like now [all] of sudden you're not as influential and so they can f---in' turn on you and that kind of stuff," said the fighter. "So, like, there's little pieces of that throughout that have been kind of irking me and I'm just like, man, I feel like I'd like to beat this person up."
Known for his business prowess outside of the cage, Faber also admitted to Hardy that the promise of certain financial gains proved enticing. "Then on the business side of things, there's like all these opportunities. You know, I talked about, I got these gyms going, and I've got some real estate projects going, some entertainment stuff going, and as an entrepreneur, you're always thinking, how can I raise some funds for this or get an investor on that. And I'm like, I've been itching to fight, and you can just go raise the funds yourself. And, you know, this money could turn into this money, could turn into that money, because I know how to do that. Which, not every fighter can do."
One of the other influences, although it seems Faber relayed this anecdote more for comedic effect than as a legitimate incentive, is his occasional conversations with UFC lightweight Conor McGregor about former Team Alpha Male teammate T.J. Dillashaw.
"Conor and I talk on occasion and he's always, like, clawing at me like 'Go get that snake, go get that weasel. Jump out and surprise him now that he's got caught cheating,'" joked Faber. "'The story's not over.' You know how Conor is," said the new father. "We have little private conversations on occasion like that, and I'm just thinking, my mouth's kind of like a little watery and all these different opportunities and it sounds like fun."
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