The views and opinions in this write up are those of Krazy Mike

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Interview with Urijah Faber
September 21, 2005

This interview is with King of the Cage Bantamweight Champion Urijah Faber (136lbs-145lbs) who is one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world.

KM: You just lost your First MMA/NHB fight and your Gladiator Challenge belt; did you learn anything from that lose?
UF: I actually learned a lot, first off I never want to quit as that is just my mentality. I could have and probably should have quit 30 seconds into the fight as I hit my head on the cage and received a pretty serious cut to my head, which made me a bit dazed. I had to get 7 staples in my head after the fight. I need to incorporate my boxing defense in my fights and I need to not let my emotions effect my fighting as I got a little careless and let my instincts take over after getting clocked in the head. . If you watch my last fight with Tyson Griffin, you will see it was one of the best fights in my weight class of the year.

KM: How long before you are allowed to fight again after being knocked out?
UF: I do not think it is considered a knockout as I was not out cold; I took a huge right hand to the chin followed by a couple follow up shots. I was not out cold laying on the mat, I was however pretty dazed. On Sherdog, they have it as a TKO loss and I really do not care what it is considered I just want my rematch. I will be fighting October 29, 2005 in Reno for King of the Cage.

KM: What is your official record in MMA?
UF: 8 - Wins 1 - Loses

KM: When training for a fight, how many days and hours do you train?
UF: I train 4-7 hours per day 4-5 days a week. I do different kinds of training, which includes watching video, lifting weights, rehabbing, Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, and Boxing.

I do my Jiu-Jitsu and Wrestling 4 days a week and I stay active 7 days a week. Cardiovascular I do have light running and hard running training days. During the wrestling season, which is about 6 months I wrestle everyday at UC Davis. I coach the UC Davis Wrestling team.

KM: What are your goals for your remaining MMA career?
UF: Keep fighting and keep winning. To be known as the best 145lb fighter in the world today, hands down! I would really like to make a lot of money. We should someday be getting the kind of money boxers make. This sport is growing so much that I feel it will pass up boxing.

KM: Who is your favorite fighter?
UF: Randy Couture, as he is a really nice guy and I have had the pleasure of training with him a lot. He is a real Champion and he is my favorite fighter through time.

KM: What do you think of KOTC on PPV?
UF: I love what is happening with King of the Cage, it is really growing and I love the fact that I get to be on the PPV shows. I think the trend is being set by King of the Cage for the lightweights as King of the Cage has the best lightweights in the world.

KM: Would you like to open your own school someday?
UF: I would like to open my own school someday, however fighting is my fulltime job and I also manage a few fighters so I really would not have the time to own my own school if I was the only instructor. I would like to run my own school with several different instructors teaching the classes. I will for sure be opening my own school someday.

KM: Are you single or Married? Do you have any kids?
UF: I am single, I do, have a girlfriend. I do not have any kids.

KM: What do you do for fun when you are not training?
UF: Well I am only two years out of college so I still like to party a little bit when I am not training for a fight, however not to much. I like to travel as I go to San Diego to train and I also find a lot of different things to do when I am not training.

KM: Out of all your fights was your first lose your toughest?
UF: You know it is hard to say that my lose was my toughest as I stated before I had a serious cut on my head from the cage, 30 seconds into the first round which made me dazed and not 100% for the rest of the fight, however I do not make excuses. It was the most entertaining fight for me as I have watched it several times and what is funny is I did not even remember most of the fight. So I do not know if it was my toughest fight, however when I get my rematch he will see a whole different fighter and I will walk away with by belt back!

KM: Do you have any Sponsors?
UF: Nogi Industries (Chris Brennan) "I love their fight shorts", Fairtex supplies me with fight gear. Ikaros Alive clothing, ikarosalive.com. I am currently talking to skin industries, however not being sponsored by them yet. I am always looking for sponsors as this what I do for a living; I do not have a 9-5 job.

KM: Do you have a Manager? Who are your Training Coaches?
UF: I manage myself (Alpha Male Athletics) along with other fighters. I have an attorney by the name of Coy Edmundson who does my back end negotiating of the contracts. He represents baseball players, surfers, and some of the X-Games people. Jiu-Jitsu coach is Cassio Werneck and my kickboxing is Dave Marinoble. UC Davis head coach
Lennie Zalesky and Mark Munoz.

KM: What got you into MMA/NHB Fighting?
UF: I love mixed martial arts and I have always loved contact sports since I was a kid like football, karate, boxing, and wrestling. It is just kind of my nature. After I graduated college I new I wanted to have a career in fighting as I had my first fight just two months out of college.

KM: How did you get into KOTC?
UF: Ted Williams runs Gladiator Challenge local shows and they feed King of the Cage the top guys from Gladiator Challenge and I started dominating everyone I fought in the Gladiator Challenge shows and Terry Treblicock owner of King of the Cage noticed me from the Gladiator Challenge shows and told me I had the potential to be the next big thing for King of the Cage and now I am the World Champion.

KM: Did you ever have underground fights?
UF: No, I never had any underground fights. I fought some pretty cool fights in college against some jackasses who thought they were bad. "I proved them all wrong"

KM: You were an all American NCAA Wrestler, how does that help you in MMA?
UF: I was actually one match away from being an all American, I was a freestyle all American. I was an alternate for the American team. I had a great wrestling career in college with very few loses and several wins. Wrestling in division one college has helped me a ton in MMA as wrestling is the foundation to MMA fighting.

KM: Would you like a rematch with the fighter who just beat you?
UF: I would love it! I spoke with him after the fight and he agreed to a rematch. I must get a rematch to avenge my only loss.

KM: What advice could you give to someone training to become an MMA Fighter?
UF: Depends on your age. If young you should get into some type of wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu. Body positioning, Cardiovascular, Muscle training. If an older person I would start with the basics of wrestling and learn to defend Jiu-Jitsu and really focus heavy on Jiu-Jitsu. Then I would recommend learning some boxing more then kickboxing.

KM: Your cardiovascular seems to be top notch, what do you do to be in such great cardiovascular shape?
UF: It is a combination of things. It all started when I was growing up as my family really promoted eating healthy and so I have always eaten good foods and taken the best supplements. I always push myself to the limit when I train. I take good care of my body which is the key in the sport of fighting. Basically years of being mentally strong and being in sports like wrestling and other physically demanding sports. You learn to push past pain when training and it all starts with being mentally prepared and having Heart! You just really need to condition your body, mind, and soul.

KM: Out of the three Body, Mind, and Heart. Which is the most Important?
UF: I would say Heart. Without the heart you will not be able to push yourself and it is easy to quit. Of course you could have all the heart in the world and never train, so when I say heart I mean applying your heart to your training, diet, and focus to be the best.

KM: Why do you think the previous King of the Cage fighters are winning all of the cable TV fighting shows?
UF: Face it King of the Cage has some of the best fighters in the world including myself!

I would make the show and win the show.

UF: On behalf of Krazy Mike's Korner, I want to thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Would you like to give any shout outs to anyone?

UF: I would like to Thank Krazy Mike and kingofthecage.com for taking the time to do this interview. Ted Williams and Terry Treblicock for giving me the opportunity to fight in Gladiator Challenge and King of the Cage. My sponsors: Ikarosalive.com, Nogi industries, and fairtex. Chris Brennan for his continued support. The fans that support me. City boxing: Tyrone Glover, KJ Noons, and Brandon Vera.

UF: A special shout out to Capital City Fighting Alliance: Good Luck James Irvin in your next fight and thanks to Dave Roberts

Krazy Mike

The views and opinions in this article are strictly those of Krazy Mike.

krazymike@kingofthecage.com

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