Urijah Faber

Urijah Faber (born May 14, 1979) is an American mixed martial artist and actor who is signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

He competed as a bantamweight and formerly competed as a featherweight.

He is also the founder of Team Alpha Male.

Faber was an NCAA wrestler.

With his base in wrestling, he later started Brazilian jiu-jitsu and quickly earned a brown belt under Fábio "Pateta" Prado.

Faber was born on May 14, 1979, in Isla Vista, California, to Theo and Suzanne Faber.

He is of Dutch descent on his father's side, and Italian, English, and Irish on his mother's side.

He went to Glen Edwards Middle School, Casa Roble High School and Lincoln High School (Lincoln, California).

He has two siblings, Ryan and Michaella.

Faber graduated from the University of California, Davis with a bachelor's degree in Human Development.

While at UC-Davis, Faber qualified for the national NCAA tournament in 2001 and 2002 in wrestling.

Faber made his professional MMA debut as part of the Gladiator Challenge promotion on November 12, 2003, defeating Poes Manne by a guillotine choke at 1:22 of round 1.

Faber then defeated George Adkins by TKO (strikes) on February 12, 2004, earning a shot at GC Bantamweight champion, David Velasquez.

On June 6, 2004, Faber defeated Velasquez by unanimous decision, becoming the new GC Bantamweight champion.

In his first title defense, Faber defeated Del Hawkins by TKO (strikes) at 3:19 of the first round on August 19, 2004.

After this fight, Faber began to take fights in both GC and King of the Cage, GC's parent promotion.

Upon moving to KOTC, Faber defeated Rami Boukai by majority decision on September 24, 2004, barely a month after his last fight.

On November 14, 2004, Faber defeated Eben Kaneshiro by submission (strikes) to win the King of the Cage Bantamweight Championship, co-holding it with the GC Bantamweight title.

On March 13, 2005, Faber made his return to GC, defeating David Granados by rear naked choke at 2:13 of round 1.

On May 7, 2005, he defended his KOTC belt for the first time, defeating Hiroyuki Abe by TKO (cut) at 2:37 of the third round.

Returning to GC on September 10, 2005, Faber had his first defeat, losing the GC Bantamweight championship to Tyson Griffin by TKO (strikes) in the third round, in only five seconds.

On October 29, 2005, Faber defended his KOTC title again, defeating Shawn Bias by guillotine choke at 1:24 of the first round.

He returned to GC on December 11, 2005, defeating Charles Bennett by rear-naked choke at 4:38 of round 1.

In his post-fight interview, Faber called out K-1 Hero's 2005 Middleweight Tournament Champion Norifumi Yamamoto, though the fight never materialized.

Faber won the WEC Featherweight Championship at WEC 19 on March 17, 2006, and held the title for over two and a half years until losing it to Mike Brown at WEC 36 on November 5, 2008.

He went on to challenge for the WEC Featherweight Championship two more times and challenged for the UFC Bantamweight Championship four times.

Faber is widely regarded as one of MMA's pioneers for establishing legitimacy to lighter-weight classes.

Faber then fought at a TKO Major League MMA event on January 8, 2006, facing Ivan Menjivar.

Faber won by disqualification at 2:02 of the second round when Menjivar landed an illegal kick to a downed Faber.

On March 17, 2006, Faber competed for the first time in the World Extreme Cagefighting promotion, beating Cole Escovedo by second-round doctors stoppage and winning the WEC Featherweight Championship.

On May 13, 2006, he fought for the King of the Cage Bantamweight Championship for the third time, defeating Charlie Valencia by rear naked choke submission at 3:09 of the first round.

Faber then returned to GC July 1, 2006, and defeated Naoya Uematsu by TKO (strikes) at 3:35 of round 2 to reclaim the GC Bantamweight championship, thus holding three titles at once.

Faber then took a fight in the Full Contact Promotions organization on September 9, 2006, defeating Enoch Wilson by TKO (strikes) at 1:01 of the second round.

On October 28, Faber returned to KOTC and defended his title for the fourth and last time, defeating future DREAM and ONE FC champion Bibiano Fernandes by TKO (cut) at 4:16 of round 1.

Faber later vacated his KOTC and GC titles upon signing a contract with the WEC after it was purchased by Zuffa in December 2006.

At WEC 25: McCullough vs. Cope on January 20, 2007, Faber defended his WEC Featherweight Championship for the first time since winning it ten months prior, defeating Joe Pearson by submission (strikes) at 2:31 of the first round.

At WEC 26: Condit vs. Alessio on March 24, 2007, he successfully defended his title for a second time by defeating Dominick Cruz by guillotine choke submission at 1:38 of round 1, the first of only four losses in Cruz's career.

At WEC 28: WrekCage on June 3, 2007, Faber defeated Chance Farrar by rear-naked choke submission at 3:19 of the first round.

After his retirement on July 6, 2017, Faber was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame as a part of the Modern-era wing.

He came out of retirement in 2019 and defeated Ricky Simón by first-round TKO.