Urijah Faber feeling 'a lot bigger, a lot stronger' ahead of UFC Fight Night 66

Urijah Faber

Urijah Faber is facing many obstacles for his UFC Fight Night 66 bout with Frankie Edgar. In addition to fighting one of the best fighters on the planet, Faber is moving back up to featherweight after almost five years at bantamweight and traveling to the Philippines for the fight.

Adjusting to the differences in time zone is a process that Faber (32-7 MMA, 8-3 UFC) starts in advance of traveling overseas.

“I’ve been adjusting my time here,” Faber told MMAjunkie Radio. “I was up at 6:30 this morning. I’ll be fighting around 10 a.m. my time. At this point I’m trying to make the adjustments here and then just stay on my schedule when I get there those six days.”

UFC Fight Night 66 takes place May 15 at SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Philippines. The event airs on FOX Sports 1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

While preparation starts at home, Faber is well aware that there are some factors that are outside his control.

Main eventing a card comes with media obligations that, understandably, revolve around local hours as opposed to a fighter’s personal adjusted schedule. Faber isn’t entirely sure how things will go for his first fight in the Philippines.

“I’ve never fought over here like this so I’m not sure,” Faber said. “I’m pretty adjustable though. I’m the guy that is able to adapt to situations. I do a lot of traveling and I always feel pretty good. The hard part is when you get to a different country or they have a different time zone and they have you on a regular schedule for their time doing promotions and stuff. This is a big fight, hopefully they’ll be respectful that I keep a good sleep schedule so that I’m not lagging.”

Faber moved to bantamweight following a loss to Jose Aldo for the WEC featherweight title in April 2010. The move to 135 pounds has been a successful one, with Faber going 9-3 at the weight. His only three losses have come in title fights against Dominick Cruz and Renan Barao (twice).

Currently riding a two-fight winning streak, Faber is open to either a return to bantamweight or sticking back at featherweight. His decisions are motivated by wherever he can get the biggest fight.

“I’m willing to go back down to bantamweight also,” Faber said. “This is a big fight, so I want to do the big fights. I came up specifically for this fight. That doesn’t mean if I get some big opportunities up at 45 I won’t stick around up there. It just kind of depends on the opportunities. I plan on getting a big win here so I think that’s going to shake things up quite a bit.”

Faber, 35, was a 30-year-old man the last time he competed at featherweight. 12 fights and five years can put a lot of mileage on a fighter’s body. For now, Faber is feeling good physically.

“It’s been a while for me, so I’m not 100 percent sure how I’m going to feel,” Faber said. “But in practice I feel a lot bigger, a lot stronger. Getting older as a fighter I think I’ve definitely gotten a little bit bigger, which is funny because I weigh more now than I did when I used to fight at 145. I’ve hit as high as 166 pounds on the weekend during this training camp, which is huge, huge, huge for me.

“I’ve been going to bed around 162-163, which is – I didn’t even think I’d get that big. My body is reacting well to being able to eat. I’m super lean still and I feel fast. This has been a really good training camp so I’m curious to see how it all comes out when the fight starts.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 66, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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