Urijah Faber Wants Trilogy Fight With Dominick Cruz

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Urijah Faber (33-8 MMA, 9-4 UFC) revealed that he wanted a trilogy fight with the new UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz (21-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC). The two were set to have one at UFC 148 in July 2012 after coaching season fifteen of The Ultimate Fighter, but Cruz pulled out due to injury. Faber beat Cruz by first round submission at WE 26 in March 2007, then Cruz beat Faber at UFC 132 in July 2011. Here are highlights:

He said: “He’s a real champion. He’s a true champion. He’s only lost to one team, that’s Team Alpha Male. He’s only lost to one guy: That’s me. And I feel like I beat him the second time also. I connected to his chin, I know he feels like he’s hard to hit. I found his chin, his butt found the ground, and I’m going to make that happen again. So let’s do it, Dom, this has been a long time coming. I’ve been sticking around a couple extra years just to let you heal up buddy. You’re not made for battle. Thank goodness you made it out this thing, hopefully alive. Hopefully, the foot’s OK. Let’s do this. Old news, new news. Let’s get it done.”

Cruz won the title with a victory over TJ Dillashaw (12-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) by split decision at UFC Fight Night 81. Faber’s most recent win was over Frankie Saenz at UFC 194. When asked about fighting Faber, Cruz added: “I don’t even want to talk about that guy; we’re still talking about him? How many title shots has he had?”

White, meanwhile, didn’t commit to the fight. He added: “I don’t know. Let’s see what happens to Dominick. Let’s see what’s really wrong with him, and we’ll go from there.“