After building one of the most intense rivalries in UFC history, Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber look back on their iconic feud.
Cruz officially announced his retirement from mixed martial arts in 2025 and launched a brand new podcast called Love & War.
On the opening episode’The Dominator’ welcomed Faber, using the former WEC champion’s appearance on the show as an opportunity to not only bury the hatchet, but also credit ‘The California Kid’ with advancing Cruz’s own career.
“Whether I wanted it, admit it or not, you were the rocket ship for my career early on,” Cruz told Faber. “The loss really… I appreciate that. It lit a fire under my butt when I lost to you. And so it’s only fair, you know, maybe we’ll get you on the first podcast and here we open with you.
“Yes, we’re winning. We’re winning together now, which is wild. It’s a win-win. And that’s something I’ve really focused on at this stage of my life: How can I, instead of making it right and wrong, instead of always trying to win, win-win, create a win-win situation for the people around me? And that’s something that’s really important to me. And that’s where the love aspect of this whole thing comes from.”
Dominick Cruz defeated Faber in back-to-back fights
Cruz and Faber first crossed paths under the WEC banner in 2007. On that night, Faber entered the fight as the reigning WEC featherweight champion, while Cruz was undefeated at 9-0.
Faber dispatched Cruz just 98 seconds into the opening round.
The bad blood between the two reached a boiling point three years later when Cruz dropped down to bantamweight and became the first-ever UFC 135-pound champion thanks to the promotion’s merger with the WEC. Shortly after, Faber followed Cruz down a weight class, setting the stage for a heated rematch at UFC 132.
This time, Cruz would get his revenge by defeating Faber via unanimous decision in the first-ever UFC bantamweight title fight.
They finally completed their trilogy in 2016 when Cruz delivered a repeat performance, defeating Faber on the scorecards at UFC 199.
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