Faber gets title shot against Cruz

UFC president Dana White isn't yet ready to dub UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber coaches for the upcoming 14th season of "The Ultimate Fighter."

But he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) he's not closing the door on the possibility either.

Regardless of the possible reality-show duties, one thing is certain: the long-awaited Cruz (17-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) vs. Faber (25-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC) rematch is going to happen.

Following Faber's hard-fought unanimous-decision victory over fellow ex-WEC champ Eddie Wineland in Saturday's UFC 128 co-headliner, White said the fan favorite is the No. 1 contender for Cruz's belt.

And that couldn't make Faber happier. After his victory over Wineland, which required a second- and third-round rally, Faber channeled his inner Antoine Dodson and warned Cruz to, "Hide your kids, hide your wife, and hide your UFC belt."

Faber said it's all in fun.

"I was just trying to add some humor," Faber said after the event at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. "I like messing with Dominick. Like I said before, I feel like he chose me as an enemy, and I gladly accepted. I'm just messing around with him and letting him know I'm getting his belt."

Cruz won the WEC bantamweight championship, which later became the UFC 135-pound title following the organizations' merger, in early-2010 from then-champ Brian Bowles. To date, Cruz's only career defeat came in a 2007 title fight with then-WEC featherweight champ Faber.

Interest in the rematch has steadily increased, especially following Cruz's title run and the UFC-WEC merger. Now it could come following coaching duties on "TUF 14." The show, which has an open workout in Newark on Monday, is the first season of the long-running reality series to call for bantamweight and featherweight fighters.

Given the lighter weight classes, wouldn't Cruz and Faber appear logical choices for the coveted coaching slots, which would begin in late summer?

"We haven't decided the coaches yet, but yeah, Urijah's definitely in mind to be a coach," White said. "Urijah looked awesome tonight. ... Urijah looked nasty in that third round with the shots he was hitting with. He looked great, and of course, he's one of the guys we're definitely looking at as a future coach."

Anfields5thKing wrote:Brian Bowles should be rightfully pissed off right now.