Urijah Faber had less than a week to celebrate being the first fighter to submit Ivan Menjivar in over 11 years—with his rear naked choke victory at UFC 157—before deciding to agree to terms for his next fight. It was one he looked at with some trepidation before ultimately deciding to go forward with it. When the No. 2 UFC ranked bantamweight steps in to the Octagon to face Scott Jorgensen, he will not only be fighting a good friend, he will be fighting someone he helped bring into the sport.
“It’s kind of a weird fight for me,” Faber said recently as a guest on Darce Side Radio. “It’s probably the first time that I fought somebody that is actually a very close friend.”
“When I first started in this sport he was at Boise State, and I was coaching at U.C. Davis,” Faber explained. “I kind of recruited him into this sport. He probably wouldn’t be in this sport if it weren’t for me telling him he should give it a shot.”
While Faber had about a three-year head start before Jorgensen started his MMA career, both fighters have almost identical records in the WEC and UFC: Faber is 11-5 and Jorgensen is 10-5. Both fighters are represented by the same management and have avoided facing each other before, but since Faber has made the move to 135, he explained it was been brought up more than once.
“I talked to my managers at MMA Inc., Jeff Myer and Mike Roberts,” Faber related. “Mike said ‘Hey look, we’ve been avoiding this fight the last couple of years. It’s the third time it’s come up between you and Scotty and they want it to have you do it possibly in May or July,’ and I was like ‘yeah I’d rather not.'”
That conversation took place in the morning, then after speaking to Jorgensen and mulling it over for the duration of the day, “The California Kid” decided to agree to it.
By the end of the day they had an offer for me to fight in this TUF Finale, and it was kind of like doing a favor because Demetrius fell out. It was like shoot man it’s like rip the band-aid off vs. peeling it off. Get this out of the way. We don’t have to think about it too much. Go in there as Scotty Jorgensen’s tattoo says ‘No Mind.’ Go in there beat the crap out of each other and move on.
“I’m fighting the best guys in the world, and I have been for 10 years now,” Faber said with pride. Jorgensen has faced some of the best himself, and like Faber has lost by decision to both Renen Barão and Dominick Cruz. Both fighters have trained together in the past, and know each other’s styles quite well.
We’ve trained together quite a bit actually. It’s going to be an interesting fight. I think I’m probably a little bigger than he is, and we are both known for our conditioning and are very well rounded. He knows a bunch of my good chokes, so it’s going to give him a little edge there, and I kind of know what he brings to the table. It’s going to even out, we’re just going to get in there and mix it up.
Both fellow bantamweights have gone the distance many times, Faber of course the more experienced in the five-round department. With both fighters only being finished twice in each of their respective careers, Faber never by submission, the odds of a full 25-minute battle and a “Fight of the night” award are very high.
“It’s a main event, and it’s on a big card and it’s a five-round fight,” Faber said. “I’m prepared for a war man. He’s a tough dude: known for his conditioning, he’s got submissions and he’s got knockouts. It’s going to be a great matchup.”
Once the cage door closes for The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale’s main event, even though they agreed to fight, there is still the possibility of it being very difficult to stare across the cage and see a friend you now have to punch, kick or attempt to submit.
I’ve got to say no, but you never really know. I guess the best thing is we’re doing something that we love. We started out as competitors. I was at U.C. Davis, he was at Boise State. There was a really good chance we would’ve competed against each other then, and we weren’t best friends there, best buddies at that time. We’ve always had a competitive relationship. I’m not going to let it deter me from anything I want to do.
Michael Stets is a Contributor for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.
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