Following his unsuccessful bantamweight title bid against Dominick Cruz at UFC 199 earlier this month, Urijah Faber suggested in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan that he might be contemplating retirement.
However, just a few weeks on the 37 year-old ‘California Kid’ seems to have made up his mind to continue competing.
“No, I’m not gonna retire,” Faber confirmed in an interview with MMAFighting.com. “[Joe] Rogan asked me the hard questions and I do this to be the best. I feel like [at age] 37 [was] one of the best training camps I’ve had, period. It was amazing.”
That being said, Faber is now in something of an awkward spot, having now been defeated by 135lb champ Cruz twice in the UFC, while a brief return to 145lbs last year also ended with a loss to current interim title contender Frankie Edgar, so he has some decision to make about where his future lies.
“I know I’m right there at the top,” Faber said. “I don’t know what’s next necessarily. I’m gonna chill for a bit. But I’m definitely not done.”
Whatever he decides, it seems that at this stage in his career it’s his love of competing that keeps him coming back more than anything else.
“This is something I’ve always done for the passion. I mean, my first fight I made $200, $200 to win. It wasn’t because I had visions of being super rich. Luckily, the sport has caught up and it’s always nice to get paid. But I forget about the paycheck until they put it in your hands. It’s about competition, it’s about doing what I love. Yeah, I’ve got a great grasp on business, I’ve got great relationships, I’ve got a lot of things I love to do outside of the fight game, but I still have a passion for it and I still feel like I’m one of the best in the world hands down. I have been my entire career. I don’t want to stick around too much longer, but I do want to have some big fights.”
