Issue 111

As he glides down the streets of downtown Sacramento on his skateboard, the wind blowing his trademark long hair around his baseball cap and people waving at him as he rides by, you’d think current UFC bantamweight contender Urijah Faber owned the town.

Although Sacramento is home to some of the world’s most famous people, including Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks and the influential metal band Deftones, many consider Faber to be the true hometown hero among the 470,000-plus Sacramentans who reside there after putting his town on the map with his exploits within the cage.

However, after a disappointing 2012, where he lost his only fight of the year to current UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao, Faber truly had something to prove, not just to his loyal fans, but himself: after a decade of consistently being at the top of the MMA game was he still capable of competing against the very best?

It’s a question many have pondered over out loud; but after two dominant submission victories in 2013, Faber has turned the doubters into believers once more. Here ‘The California Kid’ reveals the secrets behind his recent resurgence, how he’s able to keep a fight-ready physique throughout the year and why he truly believes that, at the top level, nutrition can make the difference between winning and losing.

Everyone's a critic

In the world of fighting, everyone has their opinion; and it’s likely they’re more than willing to share it with their fellow fans and even the fighters. It’s a well-known fact that there’s no such thing as a ‘perfect fight’; there are always mistakes to be addressed and in the majority of cases, coaches will sit down and review their fighter’s last bout, nitpicking at every frame to see how they can improve their charge. However, in the case of Faber there’s no bigger critic of his own performances than himself.

“I try to critique myself and check things out,” he explains while sitting in the Team Alpha Male office, and reviewing his recent win over Scott Jorgensen on a widescreen television. “I know there will be certain things that I want to work on and I’ll know there are things that my coaches will want us to work on, so I’ll ask my coaches as well. We’ve got a lot of good coaches at our team and I’m always open to their suggestions.

“Also, I love watching my fights. After I’m done with a fight I’ll watch it a bunch of times. That really helps as I’m always trying to work on my stand-up game as that’s not my base. I know I’ll be working on that until the end of my career: on the kicks, knees, elbows and punches.”

And it’s this attention to detail that has kept him from falling victim to the same issues that have stagnated many of his former WEC peers. While a large majority of the opponents he faced in the WEC are now competing on smaller promotions, Faber has managed to improve and add new tools to an already fearsome arsenal.

By enlisting the services of striking coach Master Thong and BJJ black belt Fabio ‘Pateta’ Prado, Faber has assembled a formidable coaching staff at Team Alpha Male to help him. However, the recent introduction of former UFC welterweight Duane Ludwig as head coach at the gym seems to be the biggest coup yet for Faber, and the rest of his teammates.

“I was in Singapore for the UFC doing some promotional stuff and I’d been hearing grumblings from the team that we needed a head coach; and we’d known that for a while because no-one was stepping up to be head honcho,” recalls Faber, as he moves to watch Ludwig teach a class.

“I’ve always been a huge fan of Duane’s fighting style and I consider him to be one of the best technical fighters out there. However, I didn’t think his body was holding up like it used to.

“The sport is so new that we don’t have many coaches who have been very successful fighters. Most guys who have turned to coaching have only a singular background, but Duane seemed to be a perfect fit.”

Faber adds: “As soon as I got home, I sent him a text to ask if that was still his number. He replied back and I asked him if we could talk. I called him and right away, told him what I was thinking, and without even coming out here he started acting like the head coach; he was checking out our guys, sending emails with techniques. I felt like this was a guy who was working super hard, wanted the opportunity and understood the big picture. It’s been a great match.”

One of the key areas Ludwig has been helping Faber with is his ability to mesh his striking with the stellar wrestling he’s forged over his lifetime. It’s an area Urijah openly admits needs more improvement.

He explains: “I feel like I need to improve on my kicks, knees and elbows – the Muay Thai side of things. Secondly, I need to really blend it in better with my wrestling.

“I have a really great wrestling background, but I need to blend it better with my striking. I think you could see that more with my last fight but I still think I’ve got a long way to go.”

Staying ready

Many fighters like to let loose a little bit after a long, arduous training camp. After spending up to 12 weeks in a gym breaking down their body and then building it back up, the last thing they want to do after a fight is jump straight back on the treadmill, so to speak; and it shows.

Fighters can grow significantly during their time off, but you’d be hard-pressed to find much difference in Faber’s physique when he’s in or out of camp.

When it comes to physical fitness, Faber’s personal philosophy is that he doesn’t get ready during camps, he stays ready all the time – and that’s why he was able to accept the fight against Scott Jorgensen at the TUF 17 Finale at such short notice. Faber says one of the most important components of him constantly being in shape is his S&C coach Russ Dunning.

“I have a trainer called Russ Dunning who designs workouts for me,” he says. “He’s a physiotherapist and a really intelligent guy. He has all sorts of unique workouts for me to keep my body guessing and keep me in tip-top shape.

“When I’m not in training and I’m in town, I like to go and see him at least twice a week, but it all depends on our schedules. Two to three times a week would be ideal, but it just varies with what we both have going on.

“For example, this next month I’ll be traveling, so he’ll email me some sort of workout to help keep me in shape. We try to get something done at least twice a week.”

But as clued in as he is now when it comes to strength and conditioning, and how it can help him finally become a UFC champion, things were significantly different in the early days of his career, and all the way up to his rematch with Mike Brown in 2009.

“When I first started I didn’t do much strength and conditioning at all; it was always the applied martial arts, wrestling, kickboxing, boxing, and so on,” Faber reveals.

“It wasn’t until I broke my hand against Mike Brown that I focused on strength and conditioning, and since then I haven’t stopped. After the Brown fight I started getting into more physical fitness and I like it. It certainly has its benefits and all the best guys are doing it now. It’s important.”

Another way Faber stays in shape when he’s not in camp is by simply living an active lifestyle, which according to him isn’t hard to do when you live near the sun-filled beaches of Sacramento. He reveals: “I like to do a lot of running, lifting weights, surfing and riding my bike; I’ve also got a longboard for when I want to skateboard. I just basically stay active. I’m not very good at swimming, so that’s always an interesting workout for me (laughs).”

Feeding Faber

Throughout the years, much has been made of Faber’s healthy eating habits. And he believes that being brought up by a family who always promoted such a lifestyle has, in his own words, made him ‘crave’ healthy food.

While it’s most certainly helped with his weight cuts during his decade-long career, Faber also feels that a healthy diet can be the difference between winning or losing at the highest level.

He explains: “You’ve got to give yourself every advantage. So if you’re in great shape and have great technique, but you’re fighting another guy who is also in great shape and has great technique, then the fighter who has the better diet, and is fueled by better things, will have a small advantage. I think you need to give yourself every advantage to win.”

Faber’s Team Alpha Male teammates seem to agree with him: both UFC featherweight Chad Mendes and UFC bantamweight TJ Dillashaw are very conscious about their diets all year round, and both are fighting at the highest level. However, Faber admits that one particular member of Team Alpha Male is known for enjoying his fair share of junk food when he’s not in camp.

“Joseph Benavidez is a guy who is really healthy when it comes to fight camp, but likes to go out and reward himself with some big food after camp,” he laughs, while sitting next to Benavidez at lunch.

And even though he doesn’t eat half as much junk food as ‘Beefcake’ does, even Faber admits to having his weaknesses.

“I love garlic French fries and vanilla ice cream. If I have to cut those out during camp, then I definitely look forward to having them afterwards,” he explains. “I also enjoy a drink. I’m a beer guy; it’s definitely my drink of choice. I don’t do a load of it, but after a fight I like to wind down and have a good time, and there’s usually some alcohol involved. I like a bunch of different kinds of beers, but I prefer a lighter beer like Shock Top, that’s really good.”

Living the dream

As he drives back from another day at the gym, the 33-year-old fighter knows that this time spent training, although not actually in training camp, is bringing him that much closer to gaining the title he longs for the most. Has Faber ever been so determined in his life? Who knows, but what is made clear is that he’s not taking this new-found resurgence for granted.

He says: “I think there are a lot of guys out there who start out in our sport thinking, ‘OK, I have a fight camp now, so I better get in shape and get ready for my fight’. For me, I’m always in camp, I’m always training and I’m always getting better.

“Also, I think the biggest thing is just understanding how lucky I am to have the life that I have, and wanting to keep it. I’m one of those guys that gets to do what he loves and make a living out of it. That’s what everybody wants in this world, but not everybody gets. I just remember that and keep working hard for it.”