Urijah Faber Now Willing To Fight Dillashaw: I’ve Got To Say Yes
After leaving his longtime Team Alpha Male for a more lucrative deal at Colorado’s Elevation Fight Team, UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw took his beef with former teammate Urijah Faber to the next level by finally stating he would indeed fight “The California Kid” during an appearance on The MMA Hour earlier this week.
While the bout had been one that was teased repeatedly ever since Dillashaw won the belt from Renan Barao in shocking fashion at UFC 173, the possibility was danced around because they were teammates.
But they are no more, so a bout with Faber is a clear frontrunner for the biggest bantamweight fight possible if and when Dillashaw gets past Dominick Cruz at January’s UFC Fight Night 81. “The Viper” certainly recognizes that, and he proclaimed that Faber might he be looking for a big fight to end his career so he’d “most likely” give him one.
As for Faber, it’s been a strange week, as a random intoxicated woman wandered into his house around 3 a.m. and proceeded to destroy his bathroom with a mixture of feces and vomit.
Faber likened that strange situation to the surprise he felt at Dillashaw’s departure during a recent appearance on the Opie and Jim Norton show, noting that there are no more roadblocks to him fighting his former pupil:
“Yea, you know, that all took me by surprise,” said Faber. “This was all along the same week when ‘The Crapping’ happened so it is what it is. At this point, I don’t really have a reason not to fight him other than that we’ve been friends for a long time. Before, it was ‘We’re on the same team.’ We’re not, now. I’ve got to say ‘Yes’ to it at this point.
“It was kind of similar to the drunken poop lady. It took me by surprise. We had lunch and he mentioned it, that he was getting paid to go somewhere else and I’m like, ‘Oh, alright.'”
Now the stage is set for a bad blood-fueled showdown between two former champions with a huge backstory, and it could certainly the biggest 135-pound bout the UFC has ever staged. Heading into his UFC 194 matchup with the lesser-known Frankie Saenz, the 36-year-old Faber is running out of time to win a UFC title shot after failing in his last six attempts at a belt.
So in that sense, Dillashaw’s departure actually reinserted him into the title picture in a big way, especially in a division as shallow as bantamweight. Are you looking forward to a Dillashaw vs. Faber showdown, or is the all of the nonstop drama wearing on you?
