Urijah Faber appeared on the latest episode of ‘The Fighter & The Kid’ podcast with Brendan Schaub and Bryan Callan and the conversation lead to Conor McGregor. Faber revealed he would love to fight him before suggesting that the Irishman lacks heart when needed in the cage.
“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. 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.'”
Faber is referring to McGregor’s first professional loss – a kneebar submission to Artemij Sitenkov. See below:
Faber then goes on to say that this instinct to give up so easily (as he sees it) does not go away and that McGregor could be susceptible to that in the future.
“If his body is in danger, he gives up,” Faber said. “Can you teach that? Can you take that away? I don’t think so. That’s an instinct. He will give up.”
And while Faber would obviously be at a major size disadvantage against McGregor that would still not deter him nor his self-belief in his chances against the Irishman.
“He’s massive compared to me, very athletic. But, the good thing is, he does give up, and I don’t.”
Alan’s Angle: I can see what Faber is saying but I don’t agree with it. McGregor’s loss to Sitenkov was just his third fight as a professional and he was just shy of his 20th birthday. Fast forward five years to his fight against Max Holloway, McGregor tears his ACL early in the fight and went on be dominant for the remaining rounds. Although he was never in real danger in the fight like he was against Sitenkov he still never gave up.
I do think Faber vs. McGregor would be an amazing fight. Faber can take a punch, he never stops moving and can score a takedown at any moment. The size difference would be intriguing, would McGregor be able to keep him at distance or would Faber’s low centre of gravity aid him in taking down the Irishman? So many questions, let us hope we get a chance to see them answered.
You can listen to the full episode of ‘The Fighter & The Kid’ below
(the Conor McGregor talk starts 28:30):