Faber: Bang is an ungrateful, own foot stabbing, bully

Team Alpha Male founder and top bantamweight Urijah Faber appeared recently on Submission Radio and offered a surprise or two. It turns out that Conor McGregor, the opposing coach on the next season of TUF might get a xmas card. For TAM head striking coach Duane ‘Bang” ludwig, not so much.

“(Dominick) Cruz and I don’t really like each other, Conor and I have a, you know, a funny relationship,” Faber began. “We like to talk crap to each other, but I actually think he’s a decent dude. And I think as a competitor, I think he’s a guy that likes to win and so makes for a good competition. I was pretty pumped about it.

We’ve had it on a couple occasions where we start talking and start into physical confrontations. But I think it’s both of us like to, I mean were both fighters and just, you know, when personal space gets invaded. But I mean never really cross the line. Like tempers never flared too bad, etcetera. He can take a joke, I can dish it out and take a joke as well, and so there’s a lot of banter back and forth, and hopefully down the line some sort of fight between us.

I got into this sport to fight all the best guys, and I think match-up wise, as much he is in denial about it, his grappling was exposed a little bit. And he’s a big, strong guy for the weight class. He knows how to stay in it, he knows how to capitalize, but you know, our guy Chad [Mendes] rolled off the couch and basically had his way with him on the ground. So I think it’s a good match up.

“Here’s the honest truth, I’m a former champion, top contender for my entire career, I’m a very durable guy, but I have the most submissions in Pride, UFC and WEC history. So that’s one of the things I’ve excelled at, and that’s one of the things that Conor – and from what I’ve seen and from his past, he’s got two losses that are from submissions. We saw the way Chad was able to handle him on the ground. So for me it’s a good match up. Now is Conor a dangerous guy? He’s probably about, maybe 20 pounds heavier than I am walking around, which means I’ll probably be a little faster, he may be a little stronger. But it would be a dangerous fight of course, but for both of us. I’m confident I can submit him and I’m sure he feels like he can knock me out, and we both have trained in the other guy’s strengths. So I think it will make an interesting matchup.

There’s been talk about a couple of different names that I can’t mention because it’s not official, but there’s talk about having me fight in December, I think December 11th, the day before Conor and Aldo fight. It’s not 100 percent sure though. And yeah the weight cut is terrible, but this is the highest level of mixed martial arts and you have to sacrifice at times. So I feel like I compete really well at 145 and 135. So it depends on the fights that make the most sense, the pathway to where I wanna be, the pathway to making the most money out of this career. So I’m willing to stay at 145 and I’m willing to go down to 135. It’s just gonna be kind of dependent on what the future matchups are and I gotta have conversations with Joe Silva and Sean Shelby on that front.

Faber is confident that TAM member TJ Dillashaw has a decent shot against McGregor in a superfight.

Oh of course he would have a shot,” said Faber.” I mean here’s the honest truth, Conor McGregor is very good, TJ Dillashaw is very good. When you look at different factors, here’s something that’s for sure. Conor is a much bigger guy than TJ, TJ is a much faster guy than McGregor, and speed is an important thing. Conor’s not slow, but TJ is much smaller. He’s not a huge for the weight class, TJ. So on top of his striking ability and the ability to wrestle – ’cause he’s a lifetime wrestler. His Dad was an All-American wrestler, his brothers are wrestlers. TJ is a more well-rounded fighter. I mean the x-factor there again comes into the power. Conor is a big, big guy for the weight class, but I mean this is the era to be seeing fights like that. And as far as money goes and getting a fight that would really showcase TJ, I think that’s a great fight as well.

It’s funny ’cause Conor and I have been around each other and have an interesting relationship, but him and TJ on two different occasions have gotten into it with things escalating to, you know, them kind of bad mouthing each other. So there’s a little tension there as well and I think that’s a good fight the fans would love to see.

One time TJ and Conor and I in the back of the Ronda Rousey fight in LA, we were in just a private little bar with celebrities and the UFC brass and words were exchanged, and TJ was talking about Conor’s title shot and Conor went back and forth and they were getting on each other’s nerves, really. So I think they ended up having to be split up a little bit.

Faber was asked if Chad Mendes had been seen around the gym recently, and the respectful answer was no.

I spoke about the fact that Chad and I were raised different, and I think people were getting that miscued,” explained Faber. “Chad has been raised since he was five, six, years old by his awesome pop Alvino – ‘The Great Alvino’ we call him – as like a lifetime competitor. Since he was a little kid he’s had the best coaches, he’s gone to big tournaments, he’s a pre-teen state national level wrestler, in junior high and high school he’s a stand-out wrestler in college, he’s a combatant and a national finalist. The guy values his time off.

“I didn’t start wrestling till I was 12 or 13, so I had to go, go, go. Chad has super valued his time off. An off-season in wrestling means that he gets to go hunting and fishing, but he needs those breaks to stay sane. So even in his fight game, when he’s off season he’s off season. So right now Chad is probably hot on the trails of some sort big game animal or dressed in some turkey feathers, hiding in a bush or trying to lasso a pig. I mean the guy is out hunting and that’s what his real passion is, in addition to being a competitor. So he’s loving life, Chad’s living the dream, man. He’s prepared to be a world champion and he’s enjoying his time off. So we haven’t seen him there in the gym this time around.

The conversation took a turn when ‘Bang’ Ludwig’s name was brought up

You know, I’ve tried to keep it real private because I don’t want to air dirty laundry necessarily, but it’s just kind of sad,” said Faber. “Duane is a guy that was really, really down and out when I gave him a call, and I’ve just learned that dysfunction kind of follows that guy. So we’ve brought him into a great situation and really tried to hoist him up, and to see him bad-mouthing the team is kind of sad, you know?

“We’ve done a lot for him and he’s been out of our gym for maybe a year and a half, and to see a guy like talk about guys he hasn’t even been around for a year and a half like he knows what the heck they’re even up to is kind of strange. Especially guys that have really gone out of their way to help promote a guy, because he was pretty emotional about how down and out he was at the time. So it’s just unfortunate, man.

“There’s some guys that, no matter the opportunity seem to stab themselves in the foot. And from my stand point, what I’ve seen from him, I don’t like the way he treats people. He’s a bully, he’s done things that have really rubbed me the wrong way as far as building a positive environment, and I feel bad for the people that are stuck with him, because he takes and he takes and he takes, and it’s not the way that I built my team and I don’t appreciate his negativity. So for me, I’m done with the guy.’