Swanson and Faber were some of the most recognizable names under the now-defunct WEC banner.
Cub Swanson is serious about dropping from featherweight to bantamweight for his next fight. And if he does, then ‘Killer’ wants to meet a fellow veteran.
Fresh off of a first-round technical knockout of Darren Elkins at UFC Vegas 45, Swanson spoke at his post-fight press conference and hinted at the potential move. When asked about an ideal opponent, Swanson mentioned Urijah Faber, who has been recently mulling over a return to competition following his retirement.
Swanson and Faber were both well-known names under the now-defunct World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) banner, but never fought each other. During an appearance on MMA Junkie Radio, Swanson explained why he asked for Faber after all these years.
“I think after fighting a stretch of up-and-comers, I was excited to fight Elkins because it was somebody that’s been around for a while, someone there’s tons of tape on, somebody close to my age,” said Swanson. “There were a lot of things where I was like, ‘Ah, we’re two veterans, we’re going to go and throw down’. And I think fighting Urijah is the same thing on another level. People love him and people have loved me for years, so I think it always makes for a great fight. We should’ve fought many, many times and just never did, so why not now?
“We should do it for an honorary WEC belt,” continued Swanson. “They did the ‘BMF’ belt, so why not? Throwback.”
Faber has responded and expressed interest in what was being proposed by Swanson. The ‘California Kid’ revealed that he and Swanson were actually supposed to fight years ago at a King of the Cage event, but it failed to materialize.
“[Swanson said] directly afterwards in the press conference for [UFC Vegas 45] that his dream fight would be a fight in Palm Springs against yours truly,” said Faber (video provided by Alex Behunin of Cageside Press). “He wants to drop to 135 and honestly, I know he broke his hand, that might give me enough time to train and he’s gonna drop down to 35s. We were supposed to fight back in 2004 in King of the Cage on short notice for $1,000. I think they were gonna pay him a couple hundred bucks and they were gonna pay me like $1,000. That never happened, so Cubby, I’m honored that I’m your dream fight here in this scenario. So we might find out who the King of California is.”
The UFC Hall of Famer has not fought since UFC 245, where he suffered a third-round knockout loss to Petr Yan. Faber renewed his current contract with the promotion, but has not signed on for a fight yet.