Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz try to bury hatchet, can't quite do it

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – For a minute there, it seemed like Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber were finally ready to let it go.

Cruz left no doubt who’s the better fighter at this point in time, as he defended his UFC bantamweight title with ease on Saturday night, earning 50-45, 50-45, and 49-46 scores in the co-main event of UFC 199 at The Forum.

That gave the champ a 2-1 edge in his trilogy with his rival, so he started off on a magnanimous note at the post-fight news conference.

“You know, he’s got a tough mindset and I knew, regardless of what anyone says, when you’re fighting him he’s a tough fighter,” Cruz said. “He’s got a championship mentality, so he’s not going to go away easily.”

Faber at first returned the compliments, even if he did so in a backhanded manner. “I feel like he’s grown up a lot since the original days of me thinking he was just a punk,” Faber said. “I think he’s grown up a lot and has gotten better as a fighter, as well.”

But Cruz (22-1), who hasn’t lost a fight since Faber (33-9) submitted him in their first bout in 2007, and Faber, who paved the way for smaller fighters to be headliners as the WEC featherweight champ back in the day, will never be able to drop it, even with Cruz proving his dominance in the cage.

That’s because one of the sport’s longest-lasting rivalries is more than just about the duo. While Faber, at 37, has likely seen his days as a top contender come to a close, his gym, Sacramento’s Team Alpha Male, remains one of the premier spots for lighter-weight fighters.

A former protégé of Faber, T.J. Dillashaw, held the UFC bantamweight title, only to lose it to Cruz in January. A current member of Team Alpha Male, undefeated Cody Garbrandt, is front and center in the title picture after knocking out Thomas Almeida on Memorial Day weekend.

“I mean, I’ve heard that name before,” Cruz said, pretending he had never heard of Garbrandt. “But, I think that’s somebody that Faber manages and collects a percentage off of when he fights. So, I think that would make sense for [Faber] to mention him. But, I saw him and just thought he was one of the new kids on the block. I don’t know who he is.”

“You know who he is,” Faber said. “You guys got in a Twitter war.”

Regardless of who knows whom and who doesn’t, Faber is going to have to make some decisions on his future. Since losing the WEC title to Mike Brown in 2008, Faber has gotten six shots at WEC and UFC titles (including interim titles), going 0-6 in those fights. Saturday night’s loss made him 0-4 in UFC championship matches, making him the first to ever post such a record.

And yet, at the same time, Faber is 8-1 in non-title fights in his UFC career. A future as a “fun fights” sort of fighter, someone who can be put into interesting matchups at 135 pounds or 145, could be in his future. As is the opportunity to fight at his hometown Golden 1 Center, the soon-to-open home of the Sacramento Kings.

"I'm not going to rush into any decisions," Faber said. "I know we've got the new arena coming up in Sacramento, that's something I'm aware of, you know, that's kind of a dream come true to be in there. That's something to think about as well. I love this sport, I love what I do, I love fighting and combat and I love to train hard. But I want to be at my best.”

For his part, Cruz seems to finally have put in his past the nagging injuries that at one point threatened to derail his career. Not only has the San Diego native defeated Dillashaw to regain the title in his return fight, he’s also put the stamp on his career-defining rivalry.

No wonder Cruz seems eager to get right back into action in a deep division of contenders that includes the likes of Dillashaw, Garbrandt, Raphael Assuncao, Bryan Caraway and Aljamain Sterling.

“The truth is, this division's on fire,” Cruz said. “It's my job to come in here and be the champion. Now everybody's talking about 135 pounds. It's stacked right now, there's tons of guys that look amazing ... it fires me up, and I think the division is fired up for me coming back after a four-year layoff.”

And who knows? With the passage of time, maybe these guys, two of the most important fighters in building the featherweight and bantamweight divisions to the point where they can headline and co-feature big events, will bury the hatchet once and for all.

“It’s been an interesting relationship throughout the years,” Faber said. “We’ve had to share the disappointments of injuries and missed opportunities. ... “There’s always going to be that rivalry there. I feel like we’ve made up at points for, like, a day, and then it just goes right back to some negativity. Who knows what’s going to happen in the future? But Dom is OK.”