Perennial title contender Urijah Faber is set to rescue a scrapped main event for The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale, but he’s got his sights set on future fights.
Specifically, “The California Kid” wants a crack at Frankie Edgar.
During an interview on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown,” Faber laid out the case for why he wants bouts against lucrative names in major events:
I’m in an interesting predicament where whoever I fight, if they’re not a top contender or a titleholder, then they’re throwing me a chump. What a lot of people feel, that I get title shots — if I get a title shot, then I’ve got too many title shots. It’s like, I’m in a weird predicament because I’ve been in the top of the weight class for so long.
I wouldn’t mind taking a fight at 145. It would have to be the right fight. I’ve said this for a long time: I want to do the fights that are big, that people care about.
As Sherdog notes, Faber is well aware that he’s gotten quite a few title shots during his World Extreme Cagefighting and UFC careers.
Despite having only five UFC fights under his belt, Faber has twice competed for titles in two different divisions, with his UFC 139 match against Brian Bowles being a title eliminator.
Counting his WEC career, that’s four title shots in less than four years.
However, Faber only loses to the elite.
Mike Brown, Jose Aldo, Dominick Cruz and Renan Barao have been the only men to hand the Team Alpha Male star just five defeats in his last 24 professional MMA bouts—and only one of them ended by stoppage.
And as Faber suggests to Sherdog, he’s at the point where he feels he deserves only the most marketable bouts against the most famous fighters. In his estimation, someone like Edgar (a seven-time UFC headliner) fits the bill nicely:
[Frankie Edgar] sounds like a huge fight to me. Frankie, as far as I’m concerned, if he gets the nod on Benson Henderson, he’s one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Then he goes in against who I in my true heart feel is the best fighter pound-for-pound in the world in Jose Aldo and has a great fight with him. It’s really a fight with a couple of the best pound-for-pound guys.
Of course, Faber still has to worry about completing his next match against Jorgensen on April 13 before campaigning for a bout with Edgar.
But regardless of whether Faber wins or loses, a match with Edgar shouldn’t be too hard for the UFC to arrange on television or pay-per-view.
Despite being holding a spot in the official UFC rankings as the company’s No. 10 pound-for-pound fighter, Edgar has lost three straight bouts. But since all those defeats took place in championship bouts, “The Answer” may still warrant a top-ranked opponent for his return.
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