By The Numbers: Urijah Faber

Brian KnappApr 08, 2020

Whether or not Urijah Faber ever chooses to fight again matters little in terms of the impact he has already had on the sport of mixed martial arts.

Faber enjoyed a successful collegiate wrestling career—he was a two-time NCAA qualifier—at the University of California-Davis before shedding the singlet and headgear in his transition to MMA. The Team Alpha Male founder won 21 of his first 22 fights, became a cornerstone of the World Extreme Cagefighting organization and then graduated to the Ultimate Fighting Championship as part of the WEC merger. Faber, whose record sits at 35-11, last appeared at UFC 245, where he was cut down by a Petr Yan head kick in the third round of their Dec. 14 encounter.

With Faber’s next move uncertain, here are some of the numbers that have come to define him:

40: Years of age. Faber was born on May 14, 1979 in Isla Vista, California.

8: Consecutive victories to start his career. Faber’s undefeated run ended with a technical knockout loss to Tyson Griffin on Sept. 10, 2005—a fight in which “The California Kid” suffered a significant cut after striking his head on an exposed piece of the cage.

3: Promotions in which Faber has won championships. They are the WEC, King of the Cage and Gladiator Challenge.

964: Days as WEC featherweight champion. Faber’s reign consisted of an organizational-record five successful title defenses, as Faber turned away Joe Pearson, Dominick Cruz, Chance Farrar, Jeff Curran and Jens Pulver.

131: Total strikes landed in a five-round unanimous decision over Pulver at WEC 34 on June 1, 2008. It remains a high-water mark for Faber.

17: Submission victories to his credit, accounting for nearly half of Faber’s career total. All 17 have involved the neck, as he has secured nine wins by rear-naked choke, seven by guillotine choke and one by bulldog choke.

14: First-round finishes on his resume. Faber’s list of victims includes Cruz, Pulver, Ivan Menjivar, Takeya Mizugaki and Bibiano Fernandes.

7: Losses in UFC and WEC title fights. They account for more than half of Faber’s professional setbacks.

11: UFC wins as a bantamweight, tying Faber with Raphael Assuncao for second on the promotion’s all-time list. They trail only T.J. Dillashaw (12), a man who Faber once trained.

12: Fight-night bonuses claimed in the UFC and WEC. Faber has earned six “Submission of the Night” bonuses, four “Fight of the Night” bonuses, one “Knockout of the Night” bonus and one “Performance of the Night” bonus.

46: Seconds to wipe out Ricky Simon with punches at UFC Fight Night 155 on July 13. It was the fastest finish of Faber’s career, bettering his previous best of 82 seconds—a mark he set in his professional debut in 2003.

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