Dominick Cruz (photo via UFC / YouTube)

By FCF Staff

Urijah Faber feuded with Dominick Cruz for a good portion of his career. But he believes his longtime rival could be the one to halt the rise of Petr Yan.

Faber faced Yan at UFC 245 in December and was stopped by the Russian bantamweight in round three. The victory moved Yan’s UFC record to 6-0.

Recently Faber spoke with MMA Fighting, and while discussing who could be next for champion Henry Cejudo, “The California Kid” said this:

“I mean [Jose] Aldo looked really good. [Marlon] Moraes looked really good. You’ve got Aljamain Sterling, who’s coming out,” Faber said. “You’ve got Cody [Garbrandt] coming back and he’s motivated and he’s training his ass off. You’ve got [Raphael] Assuncao. I was watching some old fights of Assuncao with Cody and that guy’s been in the top-five for like 10 years. There’s a lot of guys.

“[T.J. Dillashaw] is a cheat, he’s going to be coming out of his suspension. There’s a lot of interesting things.”

“I think Dominick Cruz would be a nightmare matchup for Yan,” Faber said. “Maybe have Dominick come out and fight Yan and the winner of that [gets the title shot]. Everyone’s sleeping on Dominick Cruz.”

The 34-year-old Cruz, who went 2-1 in three bouts with Faber, hasn’t fought since 2016 due to injuries.