UFC on FOX 22’s Urijah Faber on the time Paige VanZant got into a fistfight with Brazilian teenager

SACRAMENTO – When Paige VanZant walked into Team Alpha Male, Urijah Faber was, perhaps understandably, a little skeptical.

The bubbly, attractive girl from Reno (via Dayton, Ore.) seemed like she might be more at home in front of the camera than a fight camp like “Train with TAM,” the gym’s longtime immersion program that gives fighters from around the world a taste of what it’s like to train at the famed Sacramento gym.

“I was trying to get to the bottom of what she was really after,” said Faber (33-10 MMA, 9-6 UFC), whose retirement fight comes Saturday against Brad Pickett (25-12 MMA, 5-7 UFC) at UFC on FOX 22 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. “Like, you want to get into acting? I was trying to gauge it. And she’s just like, ‘I want to be a world champion.’”

So at least her head was in the right place. But Faber’s buy-in wasn’t all there until one particular day of sparring at then gym.

“She got into a heated fistfight with a kid that we had on the team,” he said. “He was a little Brazilian kid; he was just right about to be 13 or 14, and he was a stud kickboxer. And those two went at it, like a war. He pissed her off, and she pissed him off, and next thing I know, she’s dropping knees on his head, and we had to break it up.

“I’m like, alright, this girl’s here to play.”

VanZant (7-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) obviously stuck around, and now, the 22-year-old is one of Faber’s most promising proteges and an honorable mention in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA women’s strawweight rankings. Saturday on FOX, Faber will retire and pass a torch of sorts to VanZant when she headlines UFC on FOX 22 opposite Michelle Waterson (13-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC).

Check out the above video to hear Faber in advance of his final fight, and for more on UFC on FOX 22, check out the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.