D.P.

Nickname California Kid
Height 5 ft 6 in
Weight 145 lb
Born May 14, 1979
Fighting out of Sacramento, California
Team/Association Capital City Fighting Alliance
Primary fighting style Collegiate Wrestling

Wins 22
By knockout 7
By submission 11
By decision 4
Losses 2
Draws 0
No contests 0


Mixed martial arts

Faber made his professional MMA debut as part of the Gladiator Challenge promotion on November 12, 2003, defeating Jay Valencia by guillotine choke at 1:22 of round 1. Faber then defeated George Adkins by TKO on February 12, 2004, earning a shot at GC Bantamweight champion David Velasquez. On June 6, 2004, Faber defeated Velasquez by unanimous decision, becoming the new GC Bantamweight champion. In his first title defense, Faber defeated Del Hawkins by TKO at 3:19 of the first round on August 19, 2004. After this fight, Faber began to take fights in both GC and King of the Cage, GC's parent promotion.

Upon moving to KOTC, Faber defeated Rami Boukai by majority decision on September 24, 2004, barely a month after his last fight. On November 14, 2004, Faber defeated Eben Kaneshiro by submission to win the KOTC Bantamweight championship, co-holding it with the GC Bantamweight title.

On March 13, 2005, Faber made his return to GC, defeating David Granados by rear naked choke at 2:13 of round 1. On May 7, 2005, he defended his KOTC belt for the first time, defeating Hiroyuki Abe by TKO at 2:37 of the third round. Returning to GC on September 10, 2005, Faber had his first defeat, losing the GC Bantamweight championship to Tyson Griffin by TKO at :05 seconds of round 3.

On October 29, 2005, Faber defended his KOTC title again, defeating Shawn Bias by guillotine choke at 1:24 of the first round. He returned to GC on December 11, 2005, defeating Charles Bennett by rear naked choke at 4:38 of round 1. Faber then fought at a TKO Major League MMA event on January 8, 2006, facing Ivan Menjivar. Faber won by disqualification at 2:02 of the second round when Menjivar landed an illegal kick to a downed Faber.

On March 17, 2006, Faber competed for the first time in the World Extreme Cagefighting promotion, defeating Cole Escovedo by TKO after the end of the second round to win the WEC featherweight championship.

On May 13, 2006, Faber defended his KOTC Bantamweight title for the third time, defeating Charlie Valencia by rear naked choke at 3:09 of the first round. Faber then returned to GC July 1, 2006 and defeated Naoya Uematsu by TKO(strikes) at 3:35 of round 2 to reclaim the GC Bantamweight championship, thus holding three titles at once. Faber then took a fight in the Full Contact Promotions organization on September 9, 2006, defeating Enoch Wilson by TKO at 1:01 of the second round. On October 28, Faber returned to KOTC and defended his title for the fourth and last time, defeating Bibiano Fernandes by TKO at 4:16 of round 1. Faber later vacated his KOTC and GC titles upon signing a contract with the WEC after it was purchased by Zuffa in December 2006.

At WEC 25: McCullough vs. Cope on January 20, 2007, Faber defended his WEC Featherweight title for the first time since winning it ten months prior, defeating Joe Pearson by submission at 2:31 of the first round. At WEC 26: Condit vs. Alessio on March 24, 2007, he successfully defended his title for a second time by defeating Dominic Cruz by guillotine choke at 1:38 of round 1.

At WEC 28: WrekCage on June 3, 2007, Faber defeated Chance Farrar by rear naked choke at 3:19 of the first round. In his postfight interview, Faber called out K-1 Hero's 2005 middleweight (154 lb) tournament champion Norifumi Yamamoto, though this fight has yet to take place. After this match, Faber took a six month break between fights, the longest of his career. He came back at WEC 31: Faber vs. Curran on December 12, 2007, defeating Jeff Curran by guillotine choke at 4:34 of the second round. Also on this card was the WEC debut of Jens Pulver, who was moving back down to featherweight from the 155lb lightweight division. In Jens WEC debut, he submitted Cub Swanson in the first round of their match setting up a title match between Jens and Faber. Pulver and Faber both commented in their postfight interviews that they wanted to fight each other, and the match was signed for June 1, 2008 at WEC 34: Faber vs. Pulver. Faber and Pulver fought a constant back-and-forth battle, but neither man was able to finish the other and the fight went the full five rounds, the first time in Faber's WEC career that one of his fights had gone the distance. The judges scored the bout a unanimous decision for Faber, 50-45, 50-44 and 50-44. This fight also marked both the first time that one of Pulver's fights at featherweight had gone to decision, and the first time Pulver had been defeated at that weight class.

Faber was next scheduled to fight Mike Brown at WEC 36 on September 10, 2008 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. However, this fight was postponed due to the threat of Hurricane Ike and was rescheduled for November 5, 2008 at the same location. Faber was defeated due to strikes at 2:23 of the first round after being caught with a strong right from Brown, which landed after Faber failed to connect with a standing backwards elbow. On January 25, 2009 at WEC 38 Faber fought Jens Pulver in a rematch, with Faber winning by guillotine choke at 1:34 of the first round. Post-fight, Faber addressed WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown, who was seated at ringside and announced he wanted a shot at regaining his title. When Brown made his first successful title defense at WEC 39 in Corpus Christi, Texas, he responded to Faber's comments by saying that a rematch between the two of them was something "the fans want to see."

Urijah Faber is next scheduled to a much disscussed rematch with current Featherweight champ Mike Brown, on June 7, 2009. The fight will take place at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, CA and will be the main event at WEC 41.