Jul-18-2008

Brodie Farber – Taking the Long Road to the UFC

By Thomas Gerbasi

When he makes his UFC debut this Saturday, you could say Brodie Farber’s in good company, considering that current contenders Jon Fitch, Jason MacDonald, and his teammate Jason Lambert all once stood where he stands now, as a fighter who is finally getting his shot in the Octagon after just missing the cut for The Ultimate Fighter show.

“I thought I was gonna be on the last season of The Ultimate Fighter,” said Farber of the recently completed season, which featured the middleweight division. “I went out there, started the process, and I was told that if you get through medicals, then you’re pretty much on the show. I went out to Vegas with the last group and they slowly sent people home. I was there the whole time, went through the medicals, signed all the waivers, and then was told to go home and wait. I thought I should have been a lock, but I wasn’t.”

It was disappointing to say the least, especially considering his record and the five years he had already put into the game – a level of experience that dwarfed many of the participants on the reality series, which soon made household names out of fighters like CB Dollaway, Matt Riddle, Tim Credeur, Jesse Taylor, and the series winner, Amir Sadollah.

Farber wouldn’t be discouraged though. He fought in late January, knocking out Eduardo Gonzalez in 27 seconds, and then fielded a few major offers that fell through before getting signed for a UFC bout against Rory Markham to take place this weekend at The Palms in Las Vegas.

Better late than never, eh?

“Honestly now, I’m glad I got in this way. I think it’s a little bit better way to get into the UFC, but the show (The Ultimate Fighter) is awesome for marketing because it makes stars. In that aspect, it’s great.”

Now he’ll have to take a more conventional road to the top, a lengthier one as well. But as Fitch, MacDonald, and Lambert will tell him, if you keep winning, eventually you’ll get the bigger fights and a chance to advance. Right now, there’s no bigger fight than the one against Markham, but the 28-year old isn’t cracking under pressure.

“I don’t feel that much pressure really,” said Farber, 13-3 as a pro. “I feel good, and I feel like I should definitely beat him as long as I show up and do my thing. I’m treating this like it’s another fight, there’s just a lot more people watching this time.”

The Grass Valley, California native doesn’t expect his mood to change much before the fight either, and that’s something he credits his North County Fight Club team for.

“I’m a mellow guy, especially before the fight,” he explains. “I don’t like to get pumped up, and they’ve been there before so they’re not gonna think it’s extra cool to be in the UFC. They’ve been there enough times. Excluding Jason (Lambert), I’ve probably got more fights than most other guys in the gym. I’ve been around, and I’ve been through it.”

In more ways than one. A lifelong athlete who dabbled in martial arts as a child but drifted away from it towards other sports growing up, Farber got back into combat sports during college, where he was thinking about law school. It soon became a vocation, along with a clothing company he owned – Bad Intentions Clothing. He turned pro in 2002 and compiled a solid record, but what many fans may remember him for was a 55 second submission loss to future UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk in his seventh fight in 2004. Did he learn anything from the defeat?

“I didn’t learn too much from that except to not take last minute fights if you haven’t been training and you’re way overweight,” he laughs. “Get good management, and don’t answer the phone when promoters call you, because they’d call and say ‘hey, you want to fight tomorrow for no money?’ And I’m like ‘yes’, while I’m thinking in my head, ‘no, no, no.’ It was just one of those things – you do it, and you learn. But it’s hard to make excuses after you fight. If you didn’t want to fight you should have stepped out before.”

Farber rebounded well, only losing once in the four years since that bout, but with his UFC shot not forthcoming, other deals falling through, and fights having opponents switched out or not happening at all, he began to get frustrated. Plus, running a gym as well made him want to do anything but work out.

“I got burned out for a while on the politics,” he said, but in 2007 he decided to give the fight game another 100 percent shot. “I said if I’m gonna do this, I need to get management, I need to start training with a good team, and I need to start taking it seriously.”

He did on all counts, and now he’s here in the UFC, ready to start his assault on the 185-pound division. And just think, if Farber makes it big, people can start calling him an overnight success.

He laughs.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “If they think it’s an overnight success or if they know I’ve worked at it for a long time, I just worry about what the guys that are close to me and who have helped me out think.”