The 26-year-old from Sacramento, Calif., would have liked to have had this moment of fame as a college wrestler. But he narrowly missed becoming a national champion for his weight class, and ended up second at University Nationals.
But what he didn’t do in college, he is now achieving in full-contact cage fighting, a rapidly growing sport in which barefoot, shirtless fighters from backgrounds as diverse as jiu-jitsu, karate, boxing and Western-style wrestling ” do all-out battle for 15 to 25 minutes in an octagonal cage.
Unlike college football or baseball stars, wrestlers who don’t make the Olympics have typically ended their athletic careers after graduation. But with prize money for top cage fights nearing half a million dollars, many wrestlers are extending their careers through full-contact fighting.
A number of Olympic wrestlers have fought and won the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pride competitions, the two largest mixed martial arts tournaments in the world.
“Most wrestlers still have their sights on the Olympics, “said Josh Gross, editor in chief of Sherdog.com, one of the largest mixed martial arts magazines in the world. “But if they don’t make it, in the back of their minds, they’re thinking about becoming mixed martial arts fighters.”
For Faber, who grew up street fighting and watching kung-fu movies, the transition to full contact was natural. After just seven professional cage fights, Faber won the “King of the Cage “and “Gladiator Challenge, “two major full-contact competitions that aired on pay-per-view cable.
He is now able to support himself on prize money and athletic sponsorships, and has set his sights on fighting in Japan, where full-contact fighting is the leading sport.
“I’m having so much fun, “said Faber, who just bought a house in Sacramento with his prize money. “This is what I’ve always done, and now I’m getting paid to do it.”
Most states have not legalized full-contact fighting. But over the last 10 years, as more rules have been implemented, it has been sanctioned by the athletic commissions of New Jersey, Florida, Colorado, Minnesota, Indiana, California, Nevada and Washington.
Some observers believe that the sport will eventually eclipse boxing as it gains official approval. Spike TV ran a series called “The Ultimate Fighter “last month, which according to the Nielsen ratings claimed 10 million viewers during the championship match.
The last Ultimate Fighting Championship in Las Vegas sold out the arena at the MGM Grand, a feat many professional boxing matches fail to do. But full-contact television ratings are still far behind those of boxing.
“Boxing is an old person’s sport, “said Chael Sonnen, the president of the Full-Contact Fighting Federation who was an alternate on the U.S. Olympic wrestling team. He is now ranked 10th in the world as a full-contact fighter.
“Mixed martial arts has a lot more potential. It’s ready to take boxing over. It just needs the right marketing, “he said.
More rules have been implemented amid the struggle to legalize full-contact competitions all over the country. Unlike the first UFC fight where there were almost no regulations, today there is a litany of forbidden actions, including: slamming your opponent on his head, eye gouging, biting, hitting the spine or kidneys, hair pulling and striking with the sharp part of the elbow.
But for the most part, the participants can use any technique they want to either knock their opponent out, make him give up or win by decision. A physician will call the fight if a participant is in danger of being seriously injured.
Despite the sport’s gladiator image, practitioners say it is actually safer than boxing because they can tap the mat to give up. Also, because most fights are won through grappling, fighters say they endure much less head trauma than boxing.
Broken hands and feet are quite common in cage fighting, but no severe injuries have occurred in the United States yet.
Wrestling techniques seem to lend themselves well to full-contact fighting. Of the 134 fighters on the UFC Web site, 23 claim college-style wrestling as one of their primary fighting styles. Several of the former titleholders wrestled on the U.S. Olympic team.
“Wrestlers have a step up on everyone in cage fighting, “said Josh “The Punk “Thompson, a former Stanford University wrestler who has fought several times in the UFC. “They know how to shift their weight to control another person, and they know how to train harder than anyone.”
Thompson said he thinks more college wrestlers will opt for professional full-contact fighting as the money gets better. “They love to wrestle, “he said. “Where else are they going to go?”
Indeed, members of the wrestling team at the University of California at Davis, one of the best clubs in the country, said they get together regularly to watch UFC matches on cable. Wrestlers say it gives them inspiration to train harder and be more creative on the mat.
“A lot of my guys want to be ultimate fighters, “said Mark Munoz, the assistant wrestling coach at the university. “They’re fighters to the core. And if they don’t accomplish what they want to in wrestling, they’re going to get into full contact.”
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