Is Urijah Faber Hoping TJ Dillashaw Loses To Dominick Cruz?

Former WEC champion “The California Kid” Urijah Faber has been in a rough position in recent years. Despite losing in every chance he had at a UFC title, Faber has remained one of the best 135-pounders on the planet.

“The California Kid” currently sits at No. 4 in the bantamweight division, and has won five out of his last seven bouts. With Faber’s star power, and the fact that he often wins, and often finishes, it’s never surprising to see the Team Alpha Male leader get a shot at gold.

However, at 36-years-old, time seems to be running down for Faber, and to make matters even worse, his teammate, TJ Dillashaw, is the current bantamweight champion. Although there have been talks of the two fighting, one would think that the two teammates would probably like to shy away from that fight.

That being said, “The California Kid” could have one last chance at gold, and a rather big fight at that.

Dillashaw is set to finally put his title on the line for the third time against former champion Dominick Cruz at January’s UFC Fight Night 81.

This matchup has been long-awaited, and is very highly anticipated, as “The Dominator” never actually lost his title. Dealing with multiple knee, and leg injuries, Cruz has actually only fought once over the last four years, and was stripped of his title in 2014 after he was forced out of a bout with then interim champion Renan Barao.

Cruz finally made his return last year at UFC 178, absolutely obliterating Takeya Mizugaki. After the impressive win Cruz and Dillashaw were signed on to fight each other, but the former boss once again fell victim to an injury.

Now, however, it seems as if Cruz is finally healthy, and finally ready to attempt to get his belt back. Dillashaw and Cruz have often been compared for having similar styles, and the fight should produce fireworks.

So where does Faber fit into this?

Well, as it turns out, “The California Kid”, and Cruz have quite a storied history. The two men have fought twice before, with Faber scoring a submission victory at WEC 26 in 2007. However, Cruz got the better of Faber the second time around, scoring a unanimous decision victory in a title fight at UFC 132 in 2011.

The two men have never liked each other, and they actually coached against each other on The Ultimate Fighter 15 with the idea that a trilogy bout would go down after the show. That bout never came to fruition though, as the injury bug once again forced Cruz to the sidelines.

Now three years later, both men still remain at the top of the division with their rivalry intact, and a trilogy bout still waiting to happen.

“The California Kid” is set to meet Frankie Saenz at UFC 194, and with a win, a title shot could be justified in the extremely scarce 135-pound division. However, as we mentioned, Faber probably wouldn’t be too interested in fighting Dillashaw, but fighting Cruz would be a different story.

I’m sure “The California Kid” would like to settle the score against his bitter rival, and even at this stage in both fighters’ careers, it would still be a huge bout for the UFC.

I assume Faber is always behind his teammates, but is “The California Kid” rooting against Dillashaw here? If we are talking about personal interests, it would be best for Faber if Cruz got the victory.

“The California Kid” would get one more shot at gold, another crack at Cruz, and a chance to cement his legacy, and I’d have to think that looms somewhere in his mind, even if it’s deep in the back.