Before becoming the world’s most famous featherweight, the charismatic fighting sensation Urijah Faber ran his professional MMA record to an early 11-1 from 2003-2006. He earned notable victories over Ivan Menjivar and Charles Bennet before winning the WEC Featherweight Championship over Cole Escovedo by TKO (corner stoppage) on March 17, 2006. "The California Kid" defended the title five consecutive times (securing the WEC record at the time) with impressive dominations of top contenders Joe Pearson, Dominick Cruz (Guillotine Choke), Chance Farrar, Jeff Curran (Rear Naked Choke), and former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver. At the peak of that run Faber was the world’s number one featherweight, the WEC's number one fan draw with no other fighter even a close second, and looked unbeatable. Then he hit a rough patch. He dropped a pair of bouts to Mike Thomas Brown in 2008 and 2009, respectively, and lost to dynamic newcomer Jose Aldo in the WEC’s first-ever live Pay-Per-View event. Despite those setbacks, Faber has never broken mentally inside the cage and remains extremely threatening in all phases of the game.

Training out of Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California, Faber is an extraordinary athlete. In a sport in which ring announcers routinely pronounce fighters to be "explosive," Faber truly is. His punching, kicking, leaping and scrambling emerges from nowhere, as if plugged into its own power source. He is a true representative of modern mixed martial arts, combining a technical and creative striking game with slick, powerful submission holds, making him one of the most complete fighters competing below the lightweight limit of 155 lbs. Faber knocks out opponents with surprising, unpredictable punches and knees from improbable angles. But the majority of his wins have come by submission, including a 2009 Guillotine Choke win over Pulver and a 2010 Rear Naked Choke victory over Raphael Assuncao, who had never been submitted to that point. Regardless of his future success, Faber’s place in the MMA history books is secure, as he was the first mainstream star to emerge from a division below 155 lbs. in the sport’s history, and is still a gigantic fighting star today.

Faber has been involved in a public feud with first-ever UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominic Cruz. The two met in 2007, where Faber finished Cruz in the first round with a guillotine choke. Cruz earned the ire of Faber prior to the fight by signing his name over the image of Faber's face on the event poster. Since the WEC has folded into the UFC, and since Faber moved down to 135lbs, the two were destined to meet again, this time for Cruz's UFC belt.