At UFC Fight Night Sacramento, Urijah Faber returns, taking on Ricky Simon in his first fight since 2016. However, not everyone is convinced that it's the right move. Namely, ex-teammate and famed rival T.J. Dillashaw.
Appearing on Chael Sonnen's You're Welcome podcast, Dillashaw discussed the matter, admitting that he's not surprised but remains unconvinced that Faber should actually return. “I could always tell you when he retired that it wasn’t gonna be the last fight,” he said. "I mean to be honest, on a technical level probably should’ve stayed retired, especially with young and hungry guys coming up.
"I’m hoping he’s not hurting for money, even though we’ve had our beefs and whatever, you never wanna wish that on someone. Personally, I think he probably should’ve stayed retired but we’ll see, we’ll see how it comes out."
If Faber's comeback is successful though, Dillashaw will have a new major fight available upon his return. If that's indeed the case by the time Dillashaw's USADA suspension concludes, he'll have no reluctance accepting a fight with his ex-teammate either. "Oh yeah, absolutely," he responded. "He’s the one that created the whole forcing me out of the gym. It was after my 2nd Barao fight . . . I was fighting Dominick Cruz and Duane (Ludwig) had already moved back to Colorado.
"That’s my main coach and so I was doing the back and forth. I’d go train in Colorado, come coach at Alpha Male and train there. Back and forth and back and forth," Dillashaw recalled. "I told Urijah, I was like ‘look man, I need to do a full camp in Colorado. Going back and forth hasn’t been good for me, I don’t think that’s gonna be what I’m gonna do this next camp.’ And he gave me the ultimatum that I’ve gotta choose, I’m either with Duane or I’m with Alpha Male.
"Once that happened, I knew he didn’t have my best interests at heart. It was more about me paying him because I obviously pay Team Alpha Male when I train there. So he gave me the ultimatum and when I left, I was the bad guy."
While Dillashaw's conflict with Faber is genuine, he'll have to wait until January 2021 until he can handle any of his issues inside the octagon. Faber's comeback will also need to begin with some form of success too, first taking on Ricky Simon at UFC Fight Night Sacramento on July 13th.
