Urijah Faber has defined why he’s in the end grateful for Dominick Cruz regardless of their bitter rivalry.
Through the prime of their careers, “The California Child” and “The Dominator” had a heated feud. Faber and Cruz first shared the cage again in 2007 underneath the WEC banner. Faber secured a first-round submission end handy Cruz the primary lack of his professional MMA profession.
Cruz ended up getting his revenge by scoring two unanimous resolution victories over Faber underneath the UFC banner. Their rematch passed off in 2011, and their trilogy combat was held in 2016.
Throughout an episode of the “Love & Struggle” podcast, Faber admitted that Cruz performed an vital function in his combating profession (h/t MMAFighting).
“First off, I loved having an enemy as a result of I didn’t have many enemies,” Faber stated. “So I used to be like, ‘I’ve acquired an enemy. F*ck, let’s run with this.’ So I loved that complete course of. I all the time had numerous respect and listening to this, much more respect to you. … I bear in mind you speaking concerning the runs that you’d do within the morning generally. I can’t bear in mind what it was, however you’d have a sure day of the week or a few days per week that you’d do that intense run at 5 within the morning or six within the morning or one thing, and I bear in mind considering this man’s going to be bother as a result of I simply knew that you simply had been on observe, doing the fitting shit, and also you had the championship mentality. I noticed it and knew it was coming.”
Cruz went into element on the variations between his character and Faber’s, which led to some memorable trash discuss between the 2 legends.
“I’ve thrived in shortage,” Cruz stated. “I actually did, wanting again. I discovered about an abundance mindset as I matured and acquired older and began looking out methods to make my life much less painful for myself and totally different frameworks of mindset, and I all the time seen that about you. You all the time regarded on the intense facet. You all the time had, ‘Yeah, you understand, it’s advantageous.’ I simply bear in mind being like, ‘F*ck you, bro, it’s not advantageous. I’m going to beat your f*cking ass, dude.’ I hated you for that shit. I simply couldn’t perceive it. I simply didn’t know.”
Faber hasn’t competed in a professional MMA bout since 2019, however he has been open to combating once more. As for Cruz, he retired from professional MMA competitors following his newest harm setback earlier this yr. He nonetheless stays a high coloration commentator for UFC broadcasts.
