Urijah Faber Still Considering Retirement
After he lost to bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz at UFC 199 in June, Urijah Faber discussed the possibility of retirement.
But last month, the UFC booked him in a fight against prospect Jimmy Rivera at UFC 203. Although he has a fight coming up, the former WEC featherweight champion still thinks about the thought of stepping away from the sport. “The California Kid” isn’t actually sure though when it will actually happen.
“Maybe,” Faber said on Submission Radio of the possibility that his fight with Rivera would be his last. “I’ve thought about finishing up my career a bunch of different times. So I don’t think that a win or a loss is the defining factor on that. I look at guys and had a good talk with Dan Henderson, and he had like a five-fight losing streak and he kept on going. I don’t wanna fight into my late 40’s, but I think he’s up next for the title shot right now with the big win that he had over a tough guy. So this is a very strange sport.
“Everybody tries to figure it out. It comes down to, there’s opportunities – and if you take yourself out of the equation, you’re not there for the opportunities. If you’re in the equation, you’re there for the opportunities. I mean, I was very close to having a fight with Conor McGregor, the one that Nate Diaz got. Dana White called me and it was close to happening. Conor ended up wanting to fight Nate Diaz and it didn’t happen, but that was at 155 pounds and it was against one for the fastest growing, if not the biggest star, in the sport. So I know my skillset’s there. It’s taken me a long time to get to where I am right now. A win or a loss has never been a defining thing for me or a decision-making thing for me. I’m the type of guy that follows my heart, my passion and tries to be as realistic as possible.
“So we’ll see. Maybe it’s the last one, win or lose. Maybe I do a couple more. Maybe I end up getting a last-minute call to fight Conor McGregor or put another fight against Cruz. Who knows what’s going to happen? I know there’s a fight in Sacramento in December and I’ve had my eye on that. So yeah, never wanna say exactly what’s gonna happen cause you never know.”
UFC 203 takes place on Sept. 10 from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. The main event features Stipe Miocic defending the UFC heavyweight title against Alistair Overeem and the debut of former WWE champion CM Punk when he battles Mickey Gall.
