During the prime of their careers, ‘The California Kid’ and ‘The Dominator’ had a heated feud. Faber and Cruz first shared the cage in 2007 under the WEC banner. Faber scored a first-round finish to hand Cruz the first defeat of his professional MMA career.
Cruz ultimately got his revenge by scoring two unanimous decision victories over Faber under the UFC banner. Their rematch took place in 2011 and their trilogy fight took place in 2016.
During an episode of the Podcast ‘Love & War’Faber admitted that Cruz played an important role in his fighting career (h/t MMAfighting).
“First of all, I liked having an enemy, because I didn’t have many enemies,” Faber said. “So I thought, ‘I have an enemy. F*ck, let’s get on with this.’ So I enjoyed that whole process. I’ve always had a lot of respect and hearing this, even more respect for you. … I remember you talking about the runs you would sometimes do in the morning. I don’t remember what it was, but you had a certain day of the week or a few days a week where you would do this intense run at five in the morning or six in the morning or something, and I remember thinking that this guy was going to be trouble, because I just knew that you were on the right track, doing the right things, and you had that champion mentality. I saw it and knew it was coming.”
Cruz went into detail about the differences between his personality and Faber’s, leading to some memorable banter between the two legends.
“I have thrived in scarcity,” Cruz said. “I really did, looking back. I learned about an abundance mindset as I matured and got older and started looking for ways to make my life less painful for myself and different mindsets, and I always noticed that in you. You always looked on the bright side. You were always like, ‘Yeah, you know, it’s fine.’ I just remember thinking, ‘F*ck you, bro, it’s not good. I’m gonna kick your ass, dude.’ I hated you for that nonsense. I just couldn’t understand it. I just didn’t know.”
Faber hasn’t competed in a professional MMA fight since 2019, but he’s open to fighting again. As for Cruz, he retired from professional MMA competition after his latest injury earlier this year. He is still a top color commentator for UFC broadcasts.
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