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.”
Urijah Faber ‘likely’ done with MMA but keeping door open for Jose Aldo boxing match, BKFC - MMA Fighting
