Urijah Faber

Urijah Christopher Faber (born May 14, 1979) is an American mixed martial artist, fighting as a bantamweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Faber won the WEC Featherweight Championship at WEC 19 on March 17, 2006 and held the title for over two years until losing it to Mike Brown at WEC 36 on November 5, 2008. As of December 14, 2015, he is #3 in the official UFC bantamweight rankings and ranked the #4 bantamweight in the world by Sherdog. Faber is widely regarded as one of the sport's pioneers for establishing legitimacy to lighter weight classes in MMA.

Faber is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt under Fábio "Pateta" Prado, who, under Carlson Gracie Jr., is a fifth degree black belt.

Background

Faber was born on May 14, 1979, in Isla Vista, California, to Theo and Suzanne Faber, and grew up in Lincoln, California. He is of Dutch descent on his father's side, and Italian, English, and Irish on his mother's side. He went to Glen Edwards Middle School and then Casa Roble High School. He has two siblings, an older brother named Ryan and a younger sister named Michaella Tastad. Faber graduated from the University of California at Davis with a bachelor's degree in Human Development.