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 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. 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. Early life 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. Mixed martial arts career 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.