Urijah Faber
Former UFC bantamweight contender, and WEC Featherweight champ, Urijah ‘The California Kid’ Faber (26-6) has been taking it easy over the past month, recovering from a rib injury suffered in the first round of an interim title fight with Renan Barão this past July.
Faber tells Greg Savage of Sherdog.com that he’s on the mend and has begun some light wrestling.
With another title slipping out of Faber’s grasp, talk naturally turned to ‘The California Kid’s’ plans for the future.
Despite decision losses to reigning UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz, and to UFC interim champ Renan Barão, Faber feels that he’s still “top three” in the division with a good night in the cage only separating him from a title.
“At this point right now, there is really three guys at the top of the weight division (135-lbs), me, (Renan) Barão, and (Dominick) Cruz.”
“I feel like I beat Cruz the last time and I had a tough fight against Barão. It was kind of uneventful to be honest with you. I mean, I landed ten kicks and he landed twenty kicks, maybe that was the difference. He moved forward a little bit more, I couldn’t really mix things up, partially because of the rib in the first round. So I’m right there with the top guys.
“…I’m still getting better. It’s a matter of putting it together. When it’s at the top level, it’s just the fraction, the small little fractions that make the difference. In this last one, the difference was Barão was very good, I suffered a little injury, and you know it was like ten leg kicks and some head movement. I mean my face is fine, I wasn’t in any type of danger the whole fight. I would have liked to do some other things but this is a sport where guys re-invent themselves all the time. My re-inventing myself doesn’t need to happen, it’s just staying the course.”
Faber is 2-2 since joining the UFC in March 2011, with a decision victory over Eddie Wineland at UFC 128 in his debut, a loss to Cruz at UFC 132, then a submission stoppage against Brian Bowles at UFC 139 and most recently, the UFC 149 loss to Barão.