UFC 173 was a huge coming-out party for new UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw, who dominated Renan Barao for most of their fight before finishing him in the final round. At the post-fight press conference Dillashaw was asked about fighting teammate Urijah Faber, who twice failed to wrest the belt away from Barao but is still one of the best guys in the division. Despite previous statements where he said he’d fight him if the UFC ‘made it worth their while’, the new champ made it clear that he’s not interested in that fight now:
I don’t plan on fighting Urijah, he’s helped to get me where I am at. He is like my brother. I wouldn’t like to do that fight.
UFC president Dana White was then asked about the fight, and about teammates fighting each other. White has always been an advocate of teammate fights, believing that in the end the sport is about individuals, and went down the same path here. Interestingly though, he said he’d leave the decision up to Faber:
You know how I feel about that, I’ve said it many times, I love that fight. We’ll see, we’ll see how Urijah feels about that. In that weight class, T.J. is the champ and Urijah is obviously a top contender. We’ll see what Urijah wants to do.
I think it’s highly unlikely that we’d ever see this bout, but Faber understands well that this is a business and sometimes friendships and business have to be put on the back burner. White will obviously push for it though, so it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.
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