Manager: Urijah Faber fought Barao with bruised knee ligament, partially torn hamstring
The bad training camp that UFC bantamweight Urijah Faber referred to in the wake of his UFC 169 loss to champion Renan Barao was the result of short notice and multiple injuries, his manager today told MMAjunkie.
Mike Roberts of MMA Incorporated said Faber spent one-third of his camp cutting weight for the title fight and was twice injured during his preparation.
“All he did for those three weeks was he sparred once and got hurt and hit mitts for the rest of the three weeks,†Roberts said. “That’s a great workout, but the only way you get your timing down is through sparring.â€
Faber (30-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC) lost by first-round TKO to Barao (32-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) in the headliner of this past Saturday’s pay-per-view event in Newark, N.J., when he fell to his knees after being rocked by a punch. Although he gave a thumbs-up signal to the referee to show he was still in the fight, it was obscured by Barao’s legs, and the fight was called off.
Afterward, Faber was frank about his issues in training camp, but took nothing away from the performance of Barao, who made the first defense of his undisputed UFC belt after two defenses of an interim title created in the wake of now-former champ Dominick Cruz’s knee injury.
Roberts said things quickly went south for Faber after he agreed to fight Barao as a replacement for his longtime rival Cruz.
In Faber’s first sparring session, Roberts said, he collided knees with a training partner and was taken for an MRI to assess damage from the accident.
“We took him in and got an MRI, and they said it was a bruised ligament in his knee, so he could barely walk,†Roberts said.
Faber then modified his training to focus on mitt work, but that turned out to further his injury woes, the manager added.
“In the meantime, when he was doing mitts and running around, he tore his hamstring,†Roberts said. “(He) got an MRI, and there was a slight tear in his hamstring.â€
Faber confirmed after the fight that he suffered a bruised patella ligament and the hamstring injury.
Despite the issues, Faber never contemplated backing out of the fight, which represented his third chance at UFC gold after previous losses to Cruz and Barao.
“Urijah’s whole thing is about opportunity,†Roberts said. “You don’t pass up opportunity, because there’s no guarantee you’re ever going to get that call again.â€
After the high-profile setback, Faber is regrouping before he contemplates his next move.
“We’re not even thinking about it right now,†Roberts said. “He’s going to take a little time off, and maybe in a few weeks or months we’ll start thinking about it.â€
