" Well obviously I’m back in the hunt for a belt. There’s a friend and a foe that are about to do battle, TJ Dillashaw and Well obviously I’m back in the hunt for a belt. There’s a friend and a foe that are about to do battle, TJ Dillashaw and Dominick Cruz - TJ being the friend and Dominick being the foe. On top of that, I could see myself going back up [to featherweight]. I gained weight to go up and fight Frankie, and then the weight never came down, which I wasn’t used to. I was walking around at like 164 lbs, a little thicker than I normally would be, and so this has been a tough cut. And I’m gonna see, without IVs and things like that, how the 135-pound weight class is gonna do for me. But I could go back up to 145 and there’s super fights there too; guys like Conor McGregor. And those are three fights in itself, Cruz, TJ and Conor that I think a lot of eyes would be on and would also be fights that I could make some real money on."



Faber is rooting for his friend, Dillashaw, as opposed to his rival, Cruz, when they meet for the championship at UFC Fight Night 81 early next year. With that being said, Faber is not opposed to fighting Dillashaw anymore, now that they are former teammates.



"Oh yeah, of course. I mean what am I gonna tell Zuffa? (laughs) ‘Hey you know, this guy used to be on my team so errr, I’m not going to fight for the world championship? No, it’s not gonna happen. No, of course."



Urijah also acknowledges that Saenz, despite being a rising star and possibly a tough test for the veteran, is still relatively unknown as a fighter and a win will unlikely move him up the rankings any further.



"No one knows who Frankie is. He’s on what, a seven fight win streak? But I think his one loss before that was a disqualification for him throwing an illegal knee. The guy is very, very tough, and, you know, no one knew who TJ Dillashaw was either. So I’m taking this guy very serious and approaching him as a top level competitor because he is. And I’m not necessarily pumped about how much notoriety he has, but that’s his problem, you know. I’ve got plenty of it for myself and I plan on putting on a great fight and fighting tooth and nail. And I’m excited for the fights to come after this one as well, but I gotta win this one first.



In order for Faber's hopes of a shot at UFC gold before retirement becomes reality, he needs to get past Saenz first, in devasating fashion -- and that's exactly what he plans to do.



"I just wanna finish. Whether there’s a submission or KO or TKO, I just wanna finish. And I’m not sure exactly how I’m gonna get it, but I’ll be doing everything in my power from the get-go to make it happen."