Urijah Faber Responds To Critics: I’ve Had Success In Title Fights

Urijah Faber is looking to bring home his first career UFC title when he takes on longtime rival Dominick Cruz, in the UFC 199 co-headliner on June 4, 2016, from The Forum in Inglewood, California.

Whether or not Faber wins, however, ‘The California Kid’ will be taking some form of title with him after his third career bout against Cruz.

With a victory Faber would earn his first UFC title in his five year stint with the company, a loss would earn him the worst title-fight record in UFC history. It’s safe to assume he prefers the first choice.

The 37 year-old UFC vet is a former WEC featherweight champion, and handed Cruz his only career loss back in 2007 defending the same title. Faber dropped two UFC bantamweight title bouts to Renan Barao, as well as another title bout against Cruz in 2011 since joining the UFC.

Now Faber is determined to beat his longtime rival in their rubber match at UFC 199, and lift the weight of have never winning a UFC title off his shoulders.

In a recent interview with MMAJunkie, Faber spoke on his title fight history, and his relevance in the sport over the years:

“I’ve had a lot of success in title fights because I’ve been a world champion for a lot of years and I’ve been a top contender my entire career,” Faber said.

“Individual fights there are a lot of things that can happen, there’s a story behind every fight. If you look at each time I’ve stepped into the octagon there’s something that went down, something that’s unique. Every fight is going to be like that.

This fight is another opportunity and it’s a testament to me continuing to improve and continue to stay on my game for over 13 years. The last time Dominick and I fought, it was a very close fight.

Faber then spoke on his second bout against Cruz at UFC 132, and how he’s never had a problem landing shots on ‘The Dominator’ before:

“If you watch the fight I didn’t have trouble catching him on the chin on multiple occasions. I plan on doing the same thing. This is a big opportunity and I’m going to seize the day.”

While Faber is as much as a +500 underdog against Cruz in Inglewood, the odds don’t matter to the Team Alpha Male founder:

“The odds don’t matter to me,” Faber said. “I don’t think people have a real understanding of how this sport is so malleable. The truth is, this is a fight I’m going to win. The betting odds or whatever, it doesn’t really matter.

“This has been a long journey. It’s been 13 years of trying to get this done. It’s a very familiar place for me.”

Throughout the antics between both men leading up to their highly-anticipated rubber match, Faber has allowed cooler heads to prevail as he is heading into this bout as mentally focused as he has ever been:

“Against a guy like Dominick, if you have too much of a set gameplan you’re going to get frustrated. Frustration can lead to dumb movements and stupid attempts and get you in trouble.

I plan on putting on a lot of pressure and staying calm. I expect to see something similar to how he’s fought his entire career.

He’s very good at what he does, but I haven’t seen a massive change in styles or anything. He’s going to continue to do the same stuff.”

UFC 199 takes place live from The Forum in Inglewood, California, on June 4th, 2016.