Urijah Faber continues to be beneath UFC contract regardless of final preventing within the octagon in 2019, however he’s protecting just a few doorways open in case potential challenges come his manner sooner or later.
Faber competed this previous Friday in Abu Dhabi, defeating Bibiano Fernandes through determination in a grappling match in the primary occasion of ADXC 5. He informed MMA Preventing that preventing beneath MMA guidelines might not be his No. 1 alternative for the time being, however he received’t rule it out both.
“I keep within the drug [testing] pool simply because I don’t do medicine and also you by no means know if a possibility presents itself, however I possible is not going to be doing MMA [again]. However you by no means know,” Faber mentioned. “I don’t assume I’d need to do bare-knuckle, however you by no means know. I feel I’ll do fight jiu-jitsu as a result of I really feel like that’s the brand new age, that’s the place issues are going. My model, Staff Alpha BJJ is about staying secure and being harmful. My jiu-jitsu is real-world relevant, MMA relevant, and it’s the stuff that works for fights. I need to maintain constructing on that and maintain showcasing that.
“So MMA, possibly not, however fight jiu-jitsu, sure. Extra of this grappling, sure.”
Requested if he’d be open to competing once more within the UFC since he’s nonetheless beneath contract, the 45-year-old veteran mentioned “it’d should be the proper state of affairs.” The identical applies to bare-knuckle matches. Faber returned from retirement in July 2019 and walked by means of rising prospect Ricky Simon in 46 seconds, however hasn’t fought in MMA since dropping a stoppage to Petr Yan that very same yr.
“I’ve had some good presents money-wise for bare-knuckle, however I’m not attempting to battle world champion boxers in bare-knuckle,” Faber mentioned. “You recognize, I’ve acquired children, I don’t need to break cheekbones and that type of stuff, lose tooth. But when they’d an attention-grabbing matchup, my boy Conor McGregor is now an proprietor there, so he might in all probability discover an opponent for me. I’m simply competing. At [age] 45, I need to maintain testing myself and maintain staying lively as an athlete. It’s my ardour. That’s what I’ve achieved my entire life.”
Faber’s former opponent Jose Aldo examined himself in boxing ring after taking a while off from MMA, after which not too long ago returned to the UFC with a classic efficiency in Could, dominating Jonathan Martinez. Aldo finally re-signed with the UFC and now faces Mario Bautista in October, however Faber, who memorably misplaced to Aldo for the WEC title again in 2010, can be excited about dealing with his fellow veteran within the boxing ring sooner or later.
“Chad Mendes and I each fought Jose Aldo and he was our hardest battle, so I’d favor to not get beat up by Aldo at this level in my life,” Faber mentioned with fun. “I’d do a boxing match towards him. I feel they supplied me one thing not too way back, earlier than he signed again with the UFC, nevertheless it was not the type of provide that was tremendous intriguing. And I talked to Aldo earlier than about bare-knuckle. He has no want of doing bare-knuckle. However I’d do a boxing match with Jose Aldo.
“I like boxing. I like pure boxing. I like pure wrestling. I like pure jiu-jitsu. I like mixing it collectively. I’d not need to do a kickboxing match with Jose Aldo, that’s for rattling certain,” Faber continued with one other snicker. “I discovered my lesson. Google ‘Urijah Faber’s leg,’ and when you don’t know what we’re speaking about, you’ll know.”
For now, Faber continues to deal with grappling matches like his contest with Fernandes. He’s now using a two-match win streak, having beat Jeff Glover in fight jiu-jitsu as properly.
“Bibiano and I are very alike and prefer to push ourselves,” mentioned Faber, who fought an inexperienced Fernandes in MMA again in 2006. “I think about myself a world-class jiu-jitsu participant. I imply, there’s no secret about that. All through the years, I’ve competed and pushed myself with guys like [Rubens] Charles ‘Cobrinha’ and Jeff Glover. All of the heavy hitters of my period, I attempt to get my fingers on them and roll all through my entire profession. And I’ve had an enormous deal with jiu-jitsu since I ended preventing.
“I like to compete and I don’t have time to go to tournaments and do the whole lot else, so taking the cream of the crop and showcasing my ability set is one thing that I actually cherish. With the ability to receives a commission for trip, however go do one thing that I like and type of unfold the data that I’ve and showcase what I’ve been engaged on is a good feeling.
“I don’t assume that lots of people know the way into jiu-jitsu I’m,” Faber continued. “I’ve my entire system, Staff Alpha BJJ, my guys realize it, my college students realize it, and it’s distinctive. It’s very distinctive. It’s a number of scrambling, a number of wrestling, a number of jiu-jitsu, so I used to be completely happy to have the ability to showcase it. It makes issues straightforward when you understand what you’re doing.
“After I turned 45 this yr, I used to be like, man, keep younger by being with younger intentions, and that’s competing, testing myself, placing challenges on the market, getting out of your consolation zone. I’m coming over to the opposite aspect of the world to go towards a world champion and put it on the market for the world to see as a 45-year-old man, it’s thrilling to have the ability to do that also. For me to develop as a combined martial artist and take a look at with the issues that I’m working, it’s actually cool to have the ability to try this.”
