Urijah Faber Was Interested In Kron Gracie For UFC Return Fight
When rumors started coming out that Urijah Faber was looking to return to the Octagon, it appeared he and the UFC had a similar opponent in mind. That was Kron Gracie, the jiu-jitsu ace who is now 1-0 in the UFC and is set to take on Cub Swanson.
“The California Kid” says he had been thinking about a return for a while and knew it would eventually materialize. When the Las Vegas-based promotion made its return to Sacramento, he knew it was time:
“I’d been thinking about it for a while,” Faber told MMA Junkie. “I’d been teased with opportunities from the UFC throughout for some short-notice fights and whatnot, but there’s no secret I stayed within the USADA drug pool throughout my retirement time just because I want to be able to if I decide to jump in.
“I’m the kind of guy that follows his heart and the current landscape is exciting for UFC, for mixed martial arts in general and I was having a big FOMO. I’m in the gym every day testing myself against these guys and being around it.”
When the UFC first sent him an offer, it read the name of Kron Gracie. He was super interested in the fight, but it never came to fruition and he is now taking on Ricky Simon. Here’s what Faber had to say about it:
“They offered me the Kron Gracie fight and they said it would be the main event and I said, ‘Yeah, I would be interested in that,’” Faber said. “I know he trains with Nick and Nate Diaz. I don’t know how involved he is with them. I have a really good relationship with those guys and maybe that’s why the fight didn’t happen.
“Maybe he just didn’t feel like he wanted to do it in Sacramento during that time. He’s a bit of a unique cat. That was offered, they’d talked about Cub Swanson who they’d offered me a couple times in the past. When that was brought up they said no to that deal.”
Regardless, Urijah Faber is just excited to return to the Octagon this Saturday. It will be interesting to see how he looks inside the cage after his layoff.
How do you think a bout between Faber and Gracie would’ve gone down?
