UFC: Faber discusses possible fight with Edgar & using lie detectors w/ drug testing

A little over a week ago, Urijah Faber met Alex Caceres in the Octagon at UFC 175. It was the main event for the televised preliminary card for the big boom summer event the UFC puts on every year for the Fourth of July weekend. Faber put on a great display of technique and finished "Bruce Leeroy" with a rear naked choke in round three.

Unlike most fighters who seem to lose their edge as they enter their mid-thirties, Urijah, at the ripe age of 35, seems to have found the right combination of healthy living and hard work in the gym to not only remain a constant fan favorite, but to stay the perennial Number 1 or 2 contender in the Bantamweight division. Bloody Elbow caught up with him recently to get his take on the fan interest in a catch weight fight with Featherweight top contender, Frankie Edgar. He also discussed a unique way to keep fighters from taking banned substances.

Bloody Elbow: There has been lots of fan interest into a possible non-title "superfight" between you and Frankie Edgar at a catch weight. When Frankie was questioned on the topic, he expressed interest saying if the circumstances were right, he could see the fight happening. Is this type fight of any interest to you?

Urijah Faber: Yeah, that would be a fight I'd really want to take some time to get prepared for. That has the potential to be a legendary fight, with a guy like him. If that's something the bosses want to see, maybe we can make it happen at a catch weight or something like that. I'd be willing to do it, but I feel like there's a couple other fights in my division that are needing to be addressed first, and he probably feels the same way.

Bloody Elbow: Would you like Dominick Cruz to be one of those other fights?

Urijah Faber: Yeah, I'd definitely like to fight him again. I know he has a fight scheduled with Takaya Mizugaki, so we'll kind of get to see where he's at with his skill level.

Bloody Elbow: What's another fight that interests you from your weight class?

Urijah Faber: I've always been interested in that fight with Kid Yamamoto. Anyone in the weight class interests me. Another fight with Barao also interests me. Honestly, I'm ready for all comers.

Bloody Elbow: When T.J. fought Barao, were you able to see things in that fight you might have missed that you could capitalize on in another future bout with him?

Urijah Faber: Their fight really was an eye opener. I never got to execute the kind of game plan that I wanted the second time we fought. Just seeing T.J.'s movement and how much trouble it gave Renan, showed that offensive movement is the key. I really think that's the way to beat him.

Bloody Elbow: What are the plans for finding a new coach to replace Ludwig?

Urijah Faber: We're still talking and we had a big meeting with our team, because Duane is going to be gone as soon as he gets his building for his gym in Colorado. It didn't happen as fast as he thought it would be, so he's going to be with us until September. He'll be back and forth sporadically, but we need to make a decision by then, for sure.

Bloody Elbow: There seems to be an increasing number of fighters getting busted for banned substances, especially during random, out of competition tests. What's your take on this, and do you think there might be a better solution than the one in place?

Urijah Faber: I think it's great that they're doing so much testing now. I've been successful in my career for 11 years, and without having to cheat. I don't really even do supplements. I've done this with healthy living and natural, organic food. I'm glad to be a representative and let people know that it can be done.

I was thinking about offering up these guys that I'm fighting to do a lie detector test. Ask them point blank, ‘Have you done performance enhancing drugs?' I think that could be another useful element to keep the sport on track. If we take the lie detector tests, it gives just one more method of keeping guys from using out or in competition.

Bloody Elbow: Last question, tell me how the AMP campaign for full contact skydiving came to be.

Urijah Faber: That idea actually came from the AMP Energy team. They came up with a creative way to get some eyes on their campaign, ‘No Bull, just energy.' It's a spoof on all these extreme sports that get pushed over the edge in other energy drink commercials. I won't call any names out, but some of them are just ridiculous. We took it up a notch and made it look real and people really took to it.