Former UFC title challenger Urijah Faber is done with MMA, but he’s not done with competing.
The 45-year-old is going on almost five years out of the octagon. Urijah Faber famously retired following a decision victory over Brad Pickett in 2016, but he returned to the cage three years later. In his brief comeback, the bantamweight handed Ricky Simon a knockout loss, before being stopped by Petr Yan that December.
However, ‘The California Kid’ hasn’t retired since that loss to ‘No Mercy’. Instead, Urijah Faber has remained an active member of the USADA, and now Drug Free Sport testing pool. He’s shown interest in various matchups over the years, but nothing has come to fruition. Now 45, Faber doubts that he will ever compete in MMA again.
However, everything else is on the table. Earlier this month, Urijah Faber defeated former ONE Championship titleholder Bibiano Fernandes at ADXC 5. Afterward, he discussed his combat sports future in an interview with MMA Fighting. There, Faber admitted that he would likely never step into the cage again.
RELATED: MICHAEL CHANDLER SEEMINGLY MOVES ON FROM LONG-AWAITED FIGHT AGAINST CONOR MCGREGOR: “THE FIGHT IS OFF”
Image Credit: @UrijahFaber on Instagram
Former UFC title challenger Urijah Faber opens up on his combat sports future
That being said, Urijah Faber could see himself fighting in a bare-knuckle, or boxing match. In the interview, ‘The California Kid’ showed interest in signing with BKFC, as well as a rematch with Jose Aldo. While the Brazilian returned to the UFC earlier this year, Faber believes a boxing match with him still makes sense.
“I stay in the drug [testing] pool just because I don’t do drugs and you never know if an opportunity presents itself, but I likely will not be doing MMA [again]. But you never know,” Urijah Faber stated in the interview. “I don’t think I’d want to do bare-knuckle, but you never know. I think I will do combat jiu-jitsu because I feel like that’s the new age, that’s where things are going.” (h/t MMA Fighting)
He continued, “…“I’ve had some good offers money-wise for bare-knuckle, but I’m not trying to fight world champion boxers in bare-knuckle. You know, I’ve got kids, I don’t want to break cheekbones and that kind of stuff, lose teeth. But if they had an interesting matchup, my boy Conor McGregor is now an owner there, so he could probably find an opponent for me…I love to compete and I don’t have time to go to tournaments and do everything else, so taking the cream of the crop and showcasing my skill set is something that I really cherish.”
What do you make of this UFC news? Do you want to see Urijah Faber return to combat sports?
Former UFC title challenger Urijah Faber is done with MMA, but he’s not done with competing.
The 45-year-old is going on almost five years out of the octagon. Urijah Faber famously retired following a decision victory over Brad Pickett in 2016, but he returned to the cage three years later. In his brief comeback, the bantamweight handed Ricky Simon a knockout loss, before being stopped by Petr Yan that December.
However, ‘The California Kid’ hasn’t retired since that loss to ‘No Mercy’. Instead, Urijah Faber has remained an active member of the USADA, and now Drug Free Sport testing pool. He’s shown interest in various matchups over the years, but nothing has come to fruition. Now 45, Faber doubts that he will ever compete in MMA again.
However, everything else is on the table. Earlier this month, Urijah Faber defeated former ONE Championship titleholder Bibiano Fernandes at ADXC 5. Afterward, he discussed his combat sports future in an interview with MMA Fighting. There, Faber admitted that he would likely never step into the cage again.
RELATED: MICHAEL CHANDLER SEEMINGLY MOVES ON FROM LONG-AWAITED FIGHT AGAINST CONOR MCGREGOR: “THE FIGHT IS OFF”
Image Credit: @UrijahFaber on Instagram
Former UFC title challenger Urijah Faber opens up on his combat sports future
That being said, Urijah Faber could see himself fighting in a bare-knuckle, or boxing match. In the interview, ‘The California Kid’ showed interest in signing with BKFC, as well as a rematch with Jose Aldo. While the Brazilian returned to the UFC earlier this year, Faber believes a boxing match with him still makes sense.
“I stay in the drug [testing] pool just because I don’t do drugs and you never know if an opportunity presents itself, but I likely will not be doing MMA [again]. But you never know,” Urijah Faber stated in the interview. “I don’t think I’d want to do bare-knuckle, but you never know. I think I will do combat jiu-jitsu because I feel like that’s the new age, that’s where things are going.” (h/t MMA Fighting)
He continued, “…“I’ve had some good offers money-wise for bare-knuckle, but I’m not trying to fight world champion boxers in bare-knuckle. You know, I’ve got kids, I don’t want to break cheekbones and that kind of stuff, lose teeth. But if they had an interesting matchup, my boy Conor McGregor is now an owner there, so he could probably find an opponent for me…I love to compete and I don’t have time to go to tournaments and do everything else, so taking the cream of the crop and showcasing my skill set is something that I really cherish.”
What do you make of this UFC news? Do you want to see Urijah Faber return to combat sports?
