Urijah Faber will be written into the record books one way or another at UFC 199. The result of his bantamweight title fight with Dominick Cruz will determine whether it goes down as a positive or dubious achievement.

Faber (33-8 MMA, 9-4 UFC) is facing a two-sided equation when he challenges Cruz (21-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) in the June 4 pay-per-view co-headliner at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The prelims air on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

A victory would earn Faber a UFC championship in a record fourth attempt fighting for the gold. A loss, meanwhile, would drop “The California Kid” to 0-4 in contests where a UFC belt is on the line, the worst title-fight record in company history.

Although Faber, 37, was champion of the now-defunct WEC organization for several years, his luck getting his grasp on UFC gold has been vastly different. He suffered a unanimous decision loss to Cruz at UFC 132 in July 2011, then would go on to drop a pair of bouts to Renan Barao in 2012 and 2014.

There’s a good chance Faber’s shot at UFC 199 will be his last should he prove unsuccessful, so he said he’s going to make the most of it.

“I’ve had a lot of success in title fights because I’ve been a world champion for a lot of years and I’ve been a top contender my entire career,” Faber told MMAjunkie. “Individual fights there are a lot of things that can happen, there’s a story behind every fight. If you look at each time I’ve stepped into the octagon there’s something that went down, something that’s unique. Every fight is going to be like that.

“This fight is another opportunity and it’s a testament to me continuing to improve and continue to stay on my game for over 13 years. The last time Dominick and I fought, it was a very close fight. If you watch the fight I didn’t have trouble catching him on the chin on multiple occasions. I plan on doing the same thing. This is a big opportunity and I’m going to seize the day.”

Faber, No. 5 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings, might be confident his ability to defeat No. 1-ranked Cruz, but outsiders see it differently. Faber can be found as high as a 7-1 betting underdog on some sports books, the greatest disparity within the odds of his 22 tracked UFC/WEC appearances.

But there’s an X-factor in Faber’s corner that many aren’t considering, he said, and that’s the fact he is the only fighter to defeat Cruz, even if it came way back at WEC 26 in March 2007 when he finished the fight with a guillotine choke in just 98 seconds. Cruz may have won the rematch at UFC 132, but Faber said he knows “The Dominator” in the octagon better than anyone. For that reason alone he said he should get more credit.

“The odds don’t matter to me,” Faber said. “I don’t think people have a real understanding of how this sport is so malleable. The truth is, this is a fight I’m going to win. The betting odds or whatever, it doesn’t really matter.

“This has been a long journey. It’s been 13 years of trying to get this done. It’s a very familiar place for me.”

Faber said he truly believes his octagon experience with Cruz is going to play a huge role in how the UFC 199 trilogy bout unfolds. Although the last meeting was nearly five years ago, Faber said Cruz is essentially the same fighter he saw previously due to spending the overwhelming majority of those five years on the sidelines dealing with an endless count of injuries.

Cruz made his return to the championship stage in January, defeating T.J. Dillashaw by split decision at UFC Fight Night 81 to re-capture the 135-pound belt after injuries forced him to vacate the gold. Faber watched that fight closely and said he witnessed a version of Cruz he knows can be beaten.

“Against a guy like Dominick, if you have too much of a set gameplan you’re going to get frustrated,” Faber said. “Frustration can lead to dumb movements and stupid attempts and get you in trouble. I plan on putting on a lot of pressure and staying calm. I expect to see something similar to how he’s fought his entire career. He’s very good at what he does, but I haven’t seen a massive change in styles or anything. He’s going to continue to do the same stuff.”

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