Urijah Faber thinks Conor McGregor is far from done inside the Octagon.
More than three years removed from his disastrous trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier, fans are still awaiting the return of McGregor who was originally expected to headline UFC 303 in June. Sadly, it never happened as the Irish megastar broke his pinky toe while training, forcing him out of his clash with Michael Chandler.
With rumors now circulating that their bout has been pushed back to December, pundits are beginning to once again question whether or not McGregor will ever actually fight again. Attempting to quell some of the concern, four-time UFC title challenger Urijah Faber stressed that fighting is in the Irishman’s DNA.
“For being a friend but a distant friend, someone that I feel like I’ve spent enough time on with to kind of understand, the guy wants to fight,” Faber told MMA Fighting. “He has money, he has fame, he could easily go and just do the movie career or be a businessman or whatever, but I feel like in his heart, his identity, his passions are still to fight. I think he will fight.”
While Faber’s teammate Chad Mendes, who once fought McGregor for the UFC interim featherweight title at UFC 189, has his doubts that ‘Mystic Mac’ is ever coming back, ‘The California Kid’ tends to disagree.
“He’s in no rush, he’s going to do it on his terms, which is a great place to be,” Faber said of the constant delays. “Not many people in this world, in our world, mixed martial arts, get to be in the place he’s in, where he wears the pants. But I think he will fight because he loves to fight.
“I mean, that’s who he is in his heart, that’s what’s given him these opportunities. He’s still young and full of piss and vinegar, so I hope to see him fight. The MMA space always benefits when a superstar comes out and puts their neck out.”
McGregor kickstarted his iconic UFC run in 2013, winning 10 of his first 12 bouts, including a 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo to claim the featherweight title and a second-round finish of Eddie Alvarez to take home the lightweight crown.
Urijah Faber Likes what he’s seeing out of conor McGregor in the gym
In more recent years, McGregor has struggled to find the win column with his only victory since 2016 being a 40-second shellacking of Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in January 2020.
He has since lost back-to-back bouts against Dustin Poirier, but Faber believes he’s seen enough to know that when McGregor returns, he’ll be the same fighter we all marveled at during the 2010s.
“If he trains correctly, I think he’ll win,” Faber said. “We actually sent him a Rollbot. If you haven’t seen it, rollbotbjj.com, it’s a company that I have. I was impressed. The Rollbot is a high-tech training dummy with neck sensors and joints that dislocate. He wanted one bad, so we sent him one out, and I was watching him on that thing — and I’m like, ‘This guy is as skilled as it gets when he goes to the ground.’ He hasn’t lost a beat, so I’d like to see him back.”
