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"The California Kid" Urijah Faber returns to action this November when he makes his WEC bantamweight debut against Takeya Mizugaki at WEC 52. Faber took some time out of his schedule this week to call into the MMATorch Livecast Tuesday Conversation to speak with me and MMATorch Columnist Matt Pelkey, and we touched on a number of subjects including his new K-Swiss ad campaign, WEC Bantamweight Champion and nemesis Dominick Cruz, wanting to make a big impact through multiple weight classes and more. Check it out below:
Jamie Penick (MMATorch): Reed Harris said last week that he's expecting you back in November, still against Takeya Mizugaki, have you signed on for that bout yet?
I haven't signed the actual bout sheet but that's what I've been told. I'm excited about it, man, I was ready to go at the end of September. But that's fine, November's good. I'm focused, I'm ready to go, I've been training hard and I'm all healed up.
Jamie: You've got the new TUBES campaign going on with Danny McBride and K-Swiss. I understand K-Swiss has acquired your FORM Athletics brand, how do you perceive that business relationship and what does it mean for your brand going forward?
It's been huge. K-Swiss is 44 years old, and so a company like that who has had so much success and is a classy brand, [to be affiliated with that] is awesome. Especially for mixed martial arts. I feel our brand is the new era of what MMA is all about, and to be recognized and acquired by K-Swiss at such an early stage in the company just shows that they know a good thing, and I'm excited about it. We can go global a lot faster than we would have otherwise. We're able to go from t-shirts to shorts to a whole line of performance apparel and sportswear right away. And we always planned on doing shows, so now having the K-Swiss shoes models and the ability to use their resources is going to be huge for us, so it's just all around great.
Matt Pelkey (MMATorch): What was it like filming those commercials with Danny McBride? Was it hard to keep a straight face like you had in those spots?
Oh, man, I was cracking up. That guys a riot. He's a real cool dude, a mellow dude. He gets in character, and he's got his buddy Jodi, they went to school together, and they know each other so well so it was funny to see them work together. But I was dying man, that guy's a riot.
Jamie: You said you'd be ready to return in September, is the knee injury healing up alright then?
Yeah, it's all healed up. I'm still being - just for the sake of being cautious - cautious. I've been running hard, doing jiu jitsu, boxing and everything else… I feel great.
Matt: is there any concern that being cautious will carry over into the fight?
What I mean by being cautious is, up until about three days ago, I didn't start doing any intense kicking just because it was a leg injury. So I'm just being cautious there, but I'll start doing that next week. Also, unless it's one of my regular training partners I'm not doing any takedowns. Usually anywhere I'm at I'll try to find some guys to do some wrestling with, but I'm [making sure I'm] familiar with all my partners… I feel 100% and I won't be cautious come fight time.
Matt: most of the fans remember Mizugaki for his five round fight with Miguel Torres a couple of years ago. That was pretty much a five round slugfest back and forth. Is that what you're looking for, do you want to stand and bang with him, or do you want to plant him on his back and take him out of his comfort zone?
I'm going to try to end it as soon as possible, so whether that's on the ground, knocking him out, elbowing him to death, whatever it takes, I'm going to try to end it. That's always how I fight. I'm ready for anything. I'm very good at wrestling, jiu jitsu, boxing and kickboxing, and I'm going to keep on improving. So I'm going to be going for the kill. Period.
Jamie: Are you expecting to have any issues with this weight cut?
It's going to be irritating for everyone around me. I'm going to be grumpy and hungry and all that good stuff… Am I going to enjoy it? Most likely not, but I'm going to feel really good there. I'm going to be strong for the weight. I'll probably walk into the cage within a couple pounds of what I normally do anyway, you know I was a really small 145 lbs. Before I came into the fight against Aldo I was about 154 lb., 153. I'll probably be around 151-152 lbs. when I get in the cage to fight at 135 lb. I'm looking to be the bigger guy. I'm not sure how it's going to change my style, if I'm going to be faster or stronger than other guys or be about even. But I just rely on my skills, and kick some butt.
Matt: Since your fight with Dominick Cruz, he's beaten your training partner Joseph Benavidez twice. Does the fact that he did so give you any extra motivation to stay at bantamweight and go after him?
Extra motivation, maybe. I really think from a fighting standpoint, Joseph did more damage until the last 10 seconds when he got a cut opened up. But Dominick doesn't seem like he brings a finishing mentality in there. So I look forward to fighting him, I learned some stuff off of watching him fight Joseph. I want to fight the guy anyway because he's the best at that weight right now, and I don't particularly like the guy, so I'm motivated to fight him.
Matt: What is it you don't like about him?
I'm not sure exactly. I would like to say it's because the first time we fought he was disrespectful, but I don't really dwell on that kind of stuff. But it was just kind of a little insight into what kind of a d-bag he is. They give away these posters to charity, and he was signing all over my face, which was kind of weird. And then, it's just the way he's carried himself. San Diego's where he's staying now. California is my place, so that's something I don't really like. But I think it'll be a good fight.
Jamie: How did you see the Benavidez-Cruz II fight going down, and what do you think Joseph could have done to swing the judges' favor his way?
I had Joseph squeaking it out. I didn't give as much emphasis on the takedowns because he didn't do much damage. For example the first round, Joseph wins the first four minutes, Dominick takes him down for the last minute and doesn't do any damage and they score it for Dominick. That makes no sense to me. Unfortunately, Dominick was very good at his gameplan, which is kind of how he fights. He's a gameplanner, it doesn't seem like he's much of a guy that likes to mix it up. I don't think he's really throwing his power shots in there. He backs up and does his footwork so it looks like he's doing something but he's still backing up. It was just mostly frustrating for Joseph, I'm sure, because he's landing all these big punches and having rounds stolen by takedowns. That's our sport, I think Joseph's got to be more aware and stop those takedowns which he wasn't able to.
Matt: It reminded me of the B.J. Penn vs. Frankie Edgar fight where one guy was the more "active" fighter and seemed to be the more aggressive fighter and the other guy seemed to land the harder shots. It seems like judges reward the guy that seems to be more active. Do you think that's a flaw in the way fights are scored or is that something you need to keep in the back of your head?
It just depends on what you think is "active." If you look at the fight, Joseph was the one stalking, he was high paced. And then you look at Dominick Cruz and they say he was more active because he was moving his feet more and throwing more punches that were missing and stuff like that. Is it who moves in there more? I mean you can throw a chicken in the fight and all of a sudden the chicken just won. As long as it looks like he's doing something. You can't really take anything away from Dominick because he's finding a way to win so he's a Champion right now because of that. But as far as doing damage? They should change his name from "The Dominator." He doesn't dominate necessarily, so maybe the "Decisionator." Not "The Intimidator" he's not intimidating, he doesn't ever finish anybody. Maybe "The Irritator." Dominating doesn't seem like it's his thing necessarily. He more moves around a lot and hits guys every once in awhile. Maybe "The Frustrator." He's probably frustrating for guys to fight. But he's definitely not dominating, he's definitely not intimidating. But he's good at what he does, which is dance around a lot, hit some guys and get takedowns.
Jamie: What did you think of Scott Jorgensen's performance against Brad Pickett and how do you think a fight against Cruz for him would go?
I thought Scott did great. Scott's been getting better and better over the years. He's tough in practice but he's always better in competition. I'm not sure how that matchup would go. Scotty's the better wrestler, Dominick Cruz is very elusive on his feet. Scotty likes to march forward and it could give Scotty some problems. Again, it's going to come down to how the judges look at that. I think he has a better chance of finishing and Dominick has a better chance of winning a decision.
Jamie: If Scott wins that fight and you get past Mizugaki, that might be the fight people want to see next, is that a fight you would take if it's on the table?
Yeah, it is a fight that I would take. Like I said, if I had my choice I wouldn't want to do that. But if it's actually going to be good for him and good for myself for us to fight each other - I know we'd shake hands before and shake hands after kind of deal - I'd be willing to do that fight, but I wouldn't look forward to it. But I'd definitely give it my all.
LISTENER QUESTION: How do you favor in the Jose Aldo vs. Manny Gamburyan fight at WEC 51? If Manny wins would you plan on going back up to 145 lb. to challenge him?
I'm going to favor Aldo. I've got a lot of respect for that guy. He's a finesse fighter, he's an exceptional athlete and he's pretty intelligent in there. Manny, though, is a really durable guy. He's got some strong grappling background. But I think with footwork and finesse I think Aldo's going to be able to control him pretty easily. I would fight Aldo again, I plan on going back to 145 lb. at some point, I'm not going to stay down at 135 forever. They talk about the pound for pound stuff all the time, I've been fighting 145 lb. and I've been a small 145 lb. for years. I'd like to have some success at 135 lb., go back up to 145 lb. and maybe hit up 155 lb. before it's all said and done. I want to do things that are big in this sport and go down in history, and I think that's how you do it.
Matt: Would you be more likely to go up to 155 lb. if that division got brought into the UFC?
Yeah, if I went up to 155 lb. I'd do it in the UFC. Just because I think that's where everybody sees the top guys. The 135 lb. and 145 lb., all the best guys in the world are in the WEC. Our 155 lb. fighters are just as competitive and just as good a lot of times, but there's just not the knowledge and perception from the fans. So when I talk about doing big things, that's what I mean. So I would like to go up to 155 lb and go to the UFC in order to do that. I think Frankie Edgar and myself would be a great fight.
Jamie: There's been some criticism of the WEC lately for stagnant ratings on events that you're not a part of. What do you think could be done for the organization to gain more of a foothold and to get more fans tuning in from event to event on Versus?
I wish I was the guy to talk to on that. I guess what you need to do is continue to have exciting fights. There are some incredible fighters out there. It's all about money, advertising and putting in the time and they've been doing that over the years. I don't have the answer for why the ratings are only there when I fight. I'm honored, that's kind of a cool statistic, but I don't know why exactly.
Matt: Does the added audience when you're on a card put more pressure on you at all?
My mentality is just to have fun, and maybe that's why people like watching me. There's a couple things that go into my fights and that is: I'm going to fight to the bitter end, and I'm going to enjoy every part of it. I think people like that. I don't feel a difference whether 100 people are watching or a million people are watching. That's on TV, I don't know about that. My thing is I just love what I'm doing, I feel really lucky to be living the life of my passion. I've been creating opportunities for my buddies and making my family proud. It's a good fight.
Jamie: Well, Urijah, we can't wait to see you in the cage again in November, are there any sponsors you want to give a shout out to before we let you go?
I just want to thank you guys, and yeah, check out all my sponsors. FormAthletics.com, like you guys talked about we were just acquired by K-Swiss. Check out KSwiss.com/tubes, they've got all those commercials with Kenny Powers and myself that are just hilarious. And AMP Energy. They've had my back this whole way, we've had an awesome campaign with them, and they're all getting behind MMA and trying to make it bigger. Thanks again guys, and @UrijahFaber for Twitter, UrijahFaber.com and thanks to my managers, MMA Incorporated.
[Urijah Faber art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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