The man is a fan.
Urijah Faber may never get the opportunity to pit his wits against Conor McGregor but he is enjoying the Dubliner’s journey up the MMA ranks.
‘The California Kid’ was McGregor’s rival coach on the latest series of The Ultimate Fighter and the pair seemed to get a rise out of each other.
Following the UFC Fight Night defeat of TJ Dillashaw – Faber’s former protégé – the 36-year-old was more than happy to chat about the current state of the game and his willingness to fight new bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz.
Faber also discussed McGregor’s sensational, 13-second KO of Jose Aldo at UFC 194.
In an interview with Jonathan Shrager of Mixed Martial Arts, Faber admitted he felt bad for the Brazilian. “Conor wasn’t lucky,” he began, before adding:
“Lucky because obviously he’s trained his butt off to get to the point where he can do that, but it was very unlucky for Aldo. I feel bad for Aldo. I feel like he definitely could have had a better performance or at least showed his stuff a little bit better.
“That’s rough, but you’ve got to be impressed with Conor. The guy put his money where his mouth is. That’s some legendary s**t right there. That’s a legendary thing to do. The build up the way it was with what Conor said and the way he delivered, that’s legendary.”
Faber cautioned, however, that lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos will prove a sterner test for ‘The Notorious’ at UFC 197.
