Urijah Faber is still under UFC contract despite last fighting in the octagon in 2019, but he’s keeping a few doors open in case potential challenges come his way in the future.
Faber competed this past Friday in Abu Dhabi, defeating Bibiano Fernandes via decision in a grappling match in the main event of ADXC 5. He told MMA Fighting that fighting under MMA rules may not be his No. 1 choice at the moment, but he won’t rule it out either.
“I stay in the drug [testing] pool just because I don’t do drugs and you never know if an opportunity presents itself, but I likely will not be doing MMA [again]. But you never know,” Faber said. “I don’t think I’d want to do bare-knuckle, but you never know. I think I will do combat jiu-jitsu because I feel like that’s the new age, that’s where things are going. My style, Team Alpha BJJ is about staying safe and being dangerous. My jiu-jitsu is real-world applicable, MMA applicable, and it’s the stuff that works for fights. I want to keep building on that and keep showcasing that.
“So MMA, maybe not, but combat jiu-jitsu, yes. More of this grappling, yes.”
Asked if he’d be open to competing again in the UFC since he’s still under contract, the 45-year-old veteran said “it’d have to be the right scenario.” The same applies to bare-knuckle matches. Faber returned from retirement in July 2019 and walked through rising prospect Ricky Simon in 46 seconds, but hasn’t fought in MMA since losing a stoppage to Petr Yan that same year.
“I’ve had some good offers money-wise for bare-knuckle, but I’m not trying to fight world champion boxers in bare-knuckle,” Faber said. “You know, I’ve got kids, I don’t want to break cheekbones and that kind of stuff, lose teeth. But if they had an interesting matchup, my boy Conor McGregor is now an owner there, so he could probably find an opponent for me. I’m just competing. At [age] 45, I want to keep testing myself and keep staying active as an athlete. It’s my passion. That’s what I’ve done my whole life.”
Faber’s former opponent Jose Aldo tested himself in boxing ring after taking some time off from MMA, and then recently returned to the UFC with a vintage performance in May, dominating Jonathan Martinez. Aldo ultimately re-signed with the UFC and now faces Mario Bautista in October, but Faber, who memorably lost to Aldo for the WEC title back in 2010, would be interested in facing his fellow veteran in the boxing ring in the future.
“Chad Mendes and I both fought Jose Aldo and he was our toughest fight, so I’d prefer not to get beat up by Aldo at this point in my life,” Faber said with a laugh. “I would do a boxing match against him. I think they offered me something not too long ago, before he signed back with the UFC, but it was not the kind of offer that was super intriguing. And I talked to Aldo before about bare-knuckle. He has no desire of doing bare-knuckle. But I would do a boxing match with Jose Aldo.
“I love boxing. I love pure boxing. I love pure wrestling. I love pure jiu-jitsu. I love blending it together. I would not want to do a kickboxing match with Jose Aldo, that’s for damn sure,” Faber continued with another laugh. “I learned my lesson. Google ‘Urijah Faber’s leg,’ and if you don’t know what we’re talking about, you’ll know.”
For now, Faber continues to focus on grappling matches like his contest with Fernandes. He’s now riding a two-match win streak, having beat Jeff Glover in combat jiu-jitsu as well.
“Bibiano and I are very alike and like to push ourselves,” said Faber, who fought an inexperienced Fernandes in MMA back in 2006. “I consider myself a world-class jiu-jitsu player. I mean, there’s no secret about that. Throughout the years, I’ve competed and pushed myself with guys like [Rubens] Charles ‘Cobrinha’ and Jeff Glover. All the heavy hitters of my era, I try to get my hands on them and roll throughout my whole career. And I’ve had a big focus on jiu-jitsu since I stopped fighting.
“I love to compete and I don’t have time to go to tournaments and do everything else, so taking the cream of the crop and showcasing my skill set is something that I really cherish. Being able to get paid for vacation, but go do something that I love and kind of spread the knowledge that I have and showcase what I’ve been working on is a great feeling.
“I don’t think that a lot of people know how into jiu-jitsu I am,” Faber continued. “I have my whole system, Team Alpha BJJ, my guys know it, my students know it, and it’s unique. It’s very unique. It’s a lot of scrambling, a lot of wrestling, a lot of jiu-jitsu, so I was happy to be able to showcase it. It makes things easy when you know what you’re doing.
“When I turned 45 this year, I was like, man, stay young by being with young intentions, and that’s competing, testing myself, putting challenges out there, getting out of your comfort zone. I’m coming over to the other side of the world to go against a world champion and put it out there for the world to see as a 45-year-old man, it’s exciting to be able to do that still. For me to grow as a mixed martial artist and test with the things that I’m working, it’s really cool to be able to do that.”
