Urijah Faber retired last month as one of the most successful and entrepreneurial fighters from the lower weight classes in mixed martial arts history. Now, he looks to leverage the goodwill and nest egg he built in a cutthroat business to help a new generation of fighters.

For Faber, 37, building a fight career that pays dividends upon retirement hinges on a simple principle.

“It’s going to come down a lot of times to having a good judgment of character . . . understand who really is with you, and keeping those relationships strong,” Faber told the Herald. “And not necessarily shutting other people out, but being aware of who are the right people to have around you — from teammates, from management, from friends, from family.

“There can be a lot of of distractions, and if you’re not strong-minded and really focused on what you want, a lot of times you make bad decisions. And you’ve seen that, even with guys that are superstars in this sport, making terrible decisions, and all of a sudden they can’t fight for a long time.”

In his hometown sendoff Dec. 17 in Sacramento, “The California Kid” beat Brad Pickett via decision. Faber had announced shortly before the fight that it would be his final after a 34-10 career, which started in 2003 and was contested almost entirely in the still-developing 145- and 135-pound weight classes.

The farewell fight was a perfect tribute to Faber’s unique contribution. His charisma and whirling fighting style overcame any fan bias against smaller fighters as a marquee attraction.

Before the UFC even had weights below 155, Faber was putting up big television and gate numbers, mostly in his hometown, where he built a clothing business and the Team Alpha Male fight camp, which has steadily churned out top contenders in the lighter divisions.

Faber’s June 2008 win in World Extreme Cagefighting over former UFC lightweight champ Jens Pulver was a torch-passing moment. It drew 1.5 million viewers on cable, shattering expectations for a featherweight super fight.

“Before this last fight, that was the monumental fight for me,” Faber said. “It was one where I was definitely at a whole new level of promotion from the organization, I was at a whole new level of competition, fighting a former world champion, and it was in my hometown.”

Diehard fans had known about Faber for some time as the vanguard of a bantamweight division the UFC showed no interest in.

With the exception of one loss, Faber was flawless in the cage from 2003 to 2008, picking up two regional titles and the WEC belt in March 2006.

His WEC tenure — which included headlining the group’s sole pay-per-view in 2010 against Jose Aldo — made for a smooth transition to the UFC when it bought and shuttered the WEC in 2011, adopting its weight classes.

Despite four opportunities, Faber was never able to capture a UFC title, which he says he doesn’t sweat.

“That won’t bother me at all,” he said. “I’ve beat world champions, UFC world champions. I’ve been a world champ in the WEC and been a top contender. I mean, I was 32 years old when they brought my weight class into the UFC. It’s not like it was this opportunity that I missed. There was no opportunity for it.”

It was on the UFC’s signature “Ultimate Fighter” reality show that Faber cemented his defining rivalry with Dominick Cruz, the current UFC champion and consensus best bantamweight in MMA history.

The rivals made great sport out of sniping at each other, a storyline furthered as Cruz bested Faber twice along with Faber proteges T.J. Dillashaw and Joseph Benavidez.

Faber saw a measure of revenge Friday at UFC 207, as prized pupil Cody Garbrandt dethroned Cruz by unanimous decision

In retirement, Faber said he has his eye on entertainment and real estate ventures, in addition to closely managing the careers of fighters he breaks in as the UFC goes through myriad changes under new ownership.

Faber said he likes the direction WME-IMG is taking the UFC, so long as fighters share in the richer financial margins the group is pursuing.

Faber heralded stars such as Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz and Ronda Rousey for securing multi-million dollar guaranteed purses, which he said is preferable to the old system under which favored fighters were rewarded with undisclosed, discretionary bonuses by UFC bosses.

“I’d rather just get paid more above-board, and I feel like that’s starting to happen,” he said. “In a lot of ways, discretionary bonuses have been a way to keep loyalty and keep you guessing.”

Faber is betting WME-IMG, a conglomerate Hollywood agency, will be sensitive to fighters struggling to make ends meet.

“This is the entertainment world that we’re dealing with now with (WME-IMG). There’s value to having the fighters in the organization be a step up in the social and financial world, because that’s part of the image,” Faber said. “You don’t want it to be known that if you’re a fighter that you’re gonna be broke. So I think that they understand that, they want to continue to make more money for the entire organization. I hope that the fighters will get to see some of that.”

For his part, Faber has charted a course for fighters to retire with something to show for it.

“I never got into this fight game because of the money, I did it because I loved it,” he said. “And I was fortunate to make . . . not enough money to last me the rest of my life, but a good head-start on using my mind to do the next phase of things.”