Urijah Faber wants to fight Conor McGregor, that much is certain.
The former WEC champion and perpetual UFC title contender talked some serious smack about the Notorious during a recent interview on The Fighter and the Kid podcast.
Faber was being his usually California Kid, likable self on the episode but then, as often happens during interviews with UFC fighters, the subject changed to a certain acerbic-tongued Irish fighter who has a penchant for knocking fools out.
The Californian mentioned that he would love to throw down with the Irishman inside the Octagon. He cited McGregor’s willingness to quit when the going gets tough as something that separates the Dubliner from the top tier fighters in the featherweight division.
“I wouldn’t mind fighting Conor. I’ll tell you what, he’s got something that a lot of guys don’t have. Something a guy like me doesn’t have, a guy like Chad Mendes doesn’t have, a guy like Frankie Edgar doesn’t have, and that’s the instincts and willingness to give up when he’s about to get knee barred.”
Faber was referring to McGregor’s submission loss in 2008 to Artemij Sitenkov, i.e. his first professional loss in MMA. He didn’t stop there though, he kept twisting the knife and scoring points on the Notorious.
“I wouldn’t give up. Come on … His knee was in danger of having some pain inflicted on it and he was like, ‘I’m out.'”
“Can you teach that? Can you take that away? I don’t think so. That’s an instinct. He will give up.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUNSkuZKMXk
Faber did have some positive words about McGregor. He explained that he is a talented martial artist and implied that he doesn’t put on a fake media persona for the cameras.
“He’s a very talented guy. He’s got great ability to talk. And, that’s not fake. That’s real. We’ve had some private conversations where he started yapping, and I was saving my stuff and he was spitting it out (laughs).”
The compliments didn’t last long though, as he was quick to remind everyone of how he thinks the Irish man copes when things don’t go his way.
“I think that would be a good fight, He’s massive compared to me, very athletic. But, the good thing is, he does give up, and I don’t.”
Urijah Faber goes up against former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar next while McGregor challenges Jose Aldo for that coveted golden strap at UFC 189.
If both Faber and McGregor get the same result in their respective bouts, they could easily be squaring offf against each other inside the cage sooner rather than later.
