10 Most Heated Rivalries In UFC History

3. Dominick Cruz Vs. Urijah Faber

The rivalry between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber is one that actually goes back to before the pair ended up in the UFC.

During their time in the WEC organisation, Cruz irked The California Kid by signing his name over Faber’s face on the promotional posters for their WEC 26 fight.

Faber would get the early submission win in that fight – the first defeat of Cruz’s professional MMA career – but the pair’s battles were to continue down the line when WEC merged with UFC in 2010.

At UFC 132, The Dominator successfully defended the new UFC Bantamweight Championship against Faber after a unanimous decision victory. Unfortunately for Cruz, though, he would have to vacate the title later that year and essentially ended up retiring for three years due to various injury issues.

Dominick Cruz would make one of the most remarkable returns in UFC history in 2014 and would defeat Faber's former Team Alpha Male teammate T.J. Dillashaw to once again become Bantamweight Champion at January 2016’s UFC Fight Night show.

And what was up next for The Dominator? Why, it was another fight with his long-time rival Urijah Faber at UFC 199. Cruz would once again get a unanimous decision victory over The California Kid.

Shortly after that, Urijah Faber would retire. But now, with Faber having returned to action this past July with a TKO win over Ricky Simon, don’t rule out yet another meeting between Cruz and Faber once Dominick Cruz gets over the shoulder injury that currently has him on the shelf.

Senior Writer
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