If it’s a WEC legacy fight that Cub Swanson wants, Urijah Faber just might be willing to give it to him.
Swanson, 38, first called for the matchup after his first-round TKO of Darren Elkins last month at UFC Fight Night 199. Swanson doubled down this week in an interview with MMA Junkie Radio, suggesting that he and Faber could fight each other for “an honorary WEC belt.” Swanson even said he’d be willing to drop down to bantamweight to make it happen.
Faber, 42, responded to Swanson’s callout Thursday in a video posted to his YouTube channel.
“Honestly, I know he broke his hand. That might give me enough time to train,” Faber said. “He’s gonna drop down to 35s. We were supposed to fight back in 2004 with King of the Cage on short notice for a thousand bucks. I think they were gonna pay him a couple hundred bucks and pay me a thousand bucks. That never happened.
“Cubby, I’m honored that I’m your dream fight here in this scenario, so we might find out who the king of California is. I don’t know.”
Both Swanson (28-12 MMA, 18-11 UFC) and Faber (35-11 MMA, 11-7 UFC) competed at featherweight while in WEC in the late 2000s. Faber held the promotion’s title and defended it four times, but he and Swanson never crossed paths.
“People love him, and people have loved me for years, so I think it always makes for a great fight,” Swanson told MMA Junkie Radio. “We should have fought many, many times and just never did, so why not now? We should do it for an honorary WEC belt. They did the ‘BMF’ belt, so why not? Throwback.”
Faber, a 2017 UFC Hall of Fame inductee, came out of retirement in 2019 and fought twice, defeating Ricky Simon by TKO and losing to Petr Yan by head-kick knockout. Faber hasn’t fought since the loss to Yan on Dec. 14, 2019 at UFC 245.
Urijah Faber responds to Cub Swanson’s callout: Maybe we’ll fight to decide ‘king of California’
