Why Urijah Faber Isn't Done

Why Urijah Faber Isn't Done
A.J. Burns – Steele's MMA

On July 2, Urijah Faber enters the Octagon at UFC 132 for what will be the 19th title fight of his career. A professional fighter since 2003, Faber has amassed a record of 25-4 fighting in promotions ranging from King of the Cage, to Gladiator Challenge, until rising to the top of the 145 pound division in the World Extreme Cagefighting promotion; becoming the face of the organization and of the lighter weight classes in general. These are facts, any web search will show you this. What you won't see though is why Faber is going to be at the top of the mountain in mixed martial arts for years to come.

Faber is a natural bantamweight, with a skill set complete with submissions, top-tier wrestling, and a vastly arrayed arsenal of strikes that has allowed him to dictate the pace and position of his fights. An examination of his losses reveals that he generally struggled when facing a vastly larger opponent who was uncommonly skilled in one discipline. For Jose Aldo, his hand speed and range allowed him to neutralize Faber's ability to close the distance and wear Aldo out. Against Mike Brown he faced a highly skilled wrestler, who was able to use his size advantage to take Faber down and keep him down. Only one other man has beaten Faber professionally, Tyson Griffin; another skilled wrestler (Griffin beat Faber via TKO in 2005) and a longtime 155 pound contender. These are the only men to face The California Kid and emerge with a hand raised.

On the other hand, Faber has excelled in every area of MMA. His striking hasn't diminished, his wrestling hasn't dropped off, and he can still submit a dude too. He has managed to keep his training fresh, training with a wide range of fighters in virtually every weight class and from every background possible. His recent drop to 135 pounds now puts him in front of an almost undefeated champion in Dominick Cruz. I say almost undefeated because the only blemish on Cruz's 18 fight record is a first round submission loss to the then WEC Featherweight Champion Faber in 2007. While Cruz has improved since that loss, Faber has improved as well. Now in his natural weight class, Urijah will have the luxury of being the bigger guy on a regular basis. In comparison to UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, Faber shares many of the same traits that kept Couture at an elite level for so long. He is a good strategist and never lacks a good game plan, and he has the same ability to adjust to an opponent on the fly.

Overall Faber has every advantage in this fight. He has the experience, talent, preparation, and the drive to succeed in becoming only the third fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two separate weight classes*. He is a fan favorite who will continue to be a draw for the UFC for years to come, and is already a certain lock for induction into the UFC Hall of Fame upon his retirement. So look out Dominator, on July 2nd your second loss is coming from the only man to beat you.

*Faber held the Featherweight Championship in the Zuffa owned WEC. Since the UFC had no Featherweight division at the time, and the linear title was converted to the UFC Featherweight Championship, this belt counts. Faber will become the third fighter, after Couture and BJ Penn to be a two division titleholder under Zuffa ownership.