Over the past four years between the UFC and WEC, Urijah Faber has fought for a title on four different occasions but hasn’t captured a belt in any of those bouts.
Despite those losses, Faber remains at or near the top of the bantamweight division currently and always seems to loom around another shot at the belt.
It’s pretty easy to figure out why Faber is always in contention—Outside of his title fight losses, the former WEC champion has never, ever lost in a non-championship fight.
Through 34 fights in his career, Faber’s only losses have come in title fights, but he’s been virtually unstoppable in every other bout, so championship gold is always on his mind.
“I want to hammer these fights out, and if the belt comes that’s great,” Faber told MMA‘s Great Debate Radio recently. “I consider myself one of the best in the world now, I very easily could have won that fight against Dominick Cruz depending on how the judges see it. I fought a tough fight against (Renan) Barao, who is an amazing competitor as well. I feel like if that one comes around again I could get that fight as well. I know I’m right there, things just have to go the way I want them.”
According to Faber, he’s heard a few disgruntled fighters complain about how he’s constantly in the mix for title shots, and it somehow has more to do with his popularity than his actual performances in the cage.
That idea is ludicrous to Faber because his record speaks for itself.
He’s beaten every fighter he’s faced in contender bouts and consistently picks up wins over top-10 level competition time and again. Faber says if more fighters did that instead of complain about his ability to get title shots, maybe they’d have the same kind of opportunities.
“It takes more than being somebody people like to get title shots—you’ve got to win,” Faber said. “I just watched an interview Dana (White) did about big Roy Nelson, and I saw an interview where Roy Nelson mentioned me. He actually said my name wrong, he said ‘if I was Ariah Faber I would have a title shot,’ and I looked at my record and I looked at his record, and I’m like dude I win my fights to get into title fights. That’s what Dana was saying.
“You guys want to complain, Brian Bowles said something too in an interview like ‘what do I have to do.’ Just win the f—king fights! Just win the fight and then you get the title shot. I’m just going to worry about that, winning my fights and being a guy that no one in the world can be, and that’s when the title will come.”
There is no denying that Faber is definitely one of the most enigmatic fighters in the lighter weight classes from featherweight down to flyweight, and he always draws a ton of attention when he competes.
Faber doesn’t need to tell anyone why he deserves a shot at the gold—he just goes out and wins every fight to get there.
If there are fighters that doubt his abilities, Faber invites them to come to Sacramento and spend a day training with him at Team Alpha Male. He’s pretty sure their minds will be changed pretty quickly.
“If you think I’m just talking, come train with me for a day,” Faber said. “We’ll spar, we’ll wrestle, we’ll do some jiu-jitsu and we’ll see how you feel.”
Faber’s even happy to have UFC heavyweight Roy Nelson train with him for a day, but there’s one condition to that invitation.
“As long as we don’t have to pay for his food,” Faber joked.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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