Faber Thought He Would Be Fighting Menjivar, Not Barao

By Chris Howie
MMANEWS.COM Staff Writer

Prior to last Friday's announcement that Urijah Faber would face Renan Barao at UFC 148, Faber had been under the impression he would be facing Ivan Menjivar for the interim UFC Bantamweight title but plans changed and Faber explained how it all went down on Pro MMA Radio:

“I had first assumed it was going to be Barao, or McDonald or Menjivar and Barao was my first prediction. I started getting tape on him as soon as I found out about Dominick. This was a couple of weeks ago. Then, when Dana came in to do the announcement, I asked him if there were any hints or insights on who it would be and he was saying 'Oh, you wouldn't believe what all had gone down, how McDonald broke his hand and Barao didn't want to leave Brazil, to leave Aldo's side, because Aldo was training' and all this crazy stuff, so I didn't know for awhile. Then like two days before the thing, I had text Dana and he was basically lying to me, saying it was gonna be Menjivar.

For like two days I thought I might be fighting Menjivar. Then the day of the announcement, I was like 'Are you sure it's not Barao?' And he was like, 'Yeah.' But I had a feeling that it was. Then Dana apologized right before he announced it, for basically lying, which is kinda weird, I thought, because Barao was there. I don't care who I fight, I told Dana I wouldn't say anything anyway, if he was thinking I might spoil the surprise, or what the deal was.”

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