Urijah Faber and Conor McGregor have shared a rich history together for a couple of fighters that never scrapped. The two shared an entire season of The Ultimate Fighter together, McGregor fought one of his best friends and teammates in Chad Mendes, and they nearly came to blows just before the UFC 189 weigh-ins. However, Faber recently dropped a bombshell that he and McGregor nearly fought each other back with Rafael dos Anjos pulled out of McGregor’s big move to lightweight for the strap.
“Actually, a lot of people don’t know that I was offered a fight with Conor McGregor – the same fight that Nate Diaz got. And I was going to go up two weight classes and fight him on three weeks’ notice. Dana [White] said he was going to give that fight to me, and Conor wanted Nate – and you saw what happened there. That would’ve been a good pay day, and it would’ve been a lot of fun. I like Conor a lot, but as you know he’s a good fight for anybody these days. It would’ve been nice to have had that fight even though it would’ve been up two weight classes and on short notice.”
“I’m always game for a challenge like that. He’s a lot bigger than I am. I probably would’ve been faster and much better on the ground. So, it would’ve been about game plan. I would’ve done everything in my power not to catch a clean one to the chin and try to get him to the ground. Right now, I’m retired. If somebody comes at me with a great offer and entices me to fight, I’m always willing to do so, I think, just because it’s in my blood – it’s what I like to do. But I’m enjoying retirement. It’s been fun, it’s been busy, and I’ve got the next generation from my team that are kicking butt.” — Urijah Faber speaking at the UFC Shanghai Q&A via MMA Junkie.
This wasn’t the first time the two were on the brink of a match-up. Conor McGregor made Dana White admit on the spot that McGregor wanted to fight Urijah Faber before a match with Jose Aldo was even set. It never got made, but it didn’t stop the Irishman from holding it over Faber’s head during season 22 of The Ultimate Fighter. The ship may have sailed for these guys to fight each other, but you can never say never. Either way, at least we got all the trash talk we would normally get in the build-up to a fight.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 11/25/2017
