This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Urijah Faber Celebrates No. 40

It seems safe to assume that the mixed martial arts world would look much different today had Urijah Faber not left his imprint on it. The Team Alpha Male founder and former World Extreme Cagefighting champion will celebrate his 40th birthday on May 14.

An Isla Vista, California, native, Faber wrestled collegiately at UC Davis, where he was a two-time national qualifier. His background as an amateur wrestler made for a natural transition to MMA. Faber debuted on Nov. 12, 2003, won 21 of his first 22 professional fights and captured titles in King of the Cage, Gladiator Challenge and the WEC. In the process, he became the face of the lighter-weight divisions. Two losses to Mike Thomas Brown signaled the end of his reign in the WEC but did little to diminish his star, as his entrances to “California Love” remained appointment viewing and he went on to headline the organization’s only pay-per-view event. Faber planted his flag in the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2011, downshifted to 135 pounds and fought for the undisputed bantamweight crown on three different occasions, losing to archrival Dominick Cruz (twice) and Renan Barao. “The California Kid” retired following a December 2016 decision win over Brad Pickett, closing the book on his remarkable career with a 34-10 record.

Others in MMA who are celebrating a birthday in May:

MAY 1

Kiichi Kunimoto, 38
Chad Mendes, 34
Dakota Cochrane, 33
Liz McCarthy, 33
Anistavio Medeiros de Figueiredo, 31
David Teymur, 30

MAY 2

Garret Nybakken, 38
Alberto Mina, 37
Kikuyo Ishikawa, 35
Alexey Kunchenko, 35
Alex Nicholson, 29
Justin Scoggins, 27

MAY 3

Sam Greco, 52
Shonie Carter, 47
Pedro Rizzo, 45
John Makdessi, 34
Patrick Holohan, 31
Bryan Barberena, 30
Mariana Morais, 23

MAY 4

Victor Henry, 32
Nate Williams, 31
Lemmy Krusic, 30
Roman Szymanski, 26
Erin Blanchfield, 20

MAY 5

Alex Schoenauer, 43
Mizuto Hirota, 38
Steve Steinbeiss, 38
Lukasz Bugara, 33
Cortney Casey, 32
Bevon Lewis, 28

MAY 6

Luiz Jorge Dutra Jr., 37
Brandon Visher, 35
Sam Alvey, 33
Akop Stepanyan, 33
Beneil Dariush, 30

MAY 7

Lodune Sincaid, 1973-2019
Frank Trigg, 47
Kurt Pellegrino, 40
Ian McCall, 35
Jodie Esquibel, 33

MAY 8

Jorge Patino, 46
Caol Uno, 44
Tatsuya Kawajiri, 41
Manny Gamburyan, 38
Jessica Aguilar, 37
Mikey Gomez, 37
Danillo Villefort, 36
Brandon Davis, 29
Julian Marquez, 29

MAY 9

Spencer Fisher, 43
Antwain Britt, 41
Shinya Aoki, 36
Martin Stapleton, 36
Chuka Willis, 26

MAY 10

Anthony Perosh, 46
Dave Lehr Cochran, 46
Yoshiyuki Yoshida, 44
Jackie Vandenburgh, 37
Cory Hendricks, 30

MAY 11

Jeremy Lang, 44
Melvin Manhoef, 43
Magomed Sultanakhmedov, 35
Gilbert Jimenez, 34
Chas Skelly, 34
Joseph Sandoval, 33
Kamaru Usman, 31
Frankie Perez, 30

MAY 12

Louis Taylor, 40
Damian Grabowski, 39
Maikel Perez, 36
Keri Melendez, 35
Junie Allen Browning, 34

MAY 13

Fredson Paixao, 40
Yan Cabral, 36
Arjan Singh Bhullar, 33
Guilherme Viana, 33
Yusuke Yachi, 29

MAY 14

Urijah Faber, 40
Tom DeBlass, 37
Artur Guseinov, 35
Rashid Magomedov, 35
Alvaro Herrera, 29

MAY 15

Shane DeZee, 42
Josh Burns, 41
Tom Lawlor, 36
Kenji Yamamoto, 35
Brett Chism, 32

MAY 16

Hacran Dias, 35
Darren Elkins, 35
Anthony Birchak, 33
Nazareno Malegarie, 33
Andre Harrison, 31

MAY 17

Matt Lindland, 49
Cheick Kongo, 44
Alistair Overeem, 39
Dan Hardy, 37
Paul Bradley, 36
Rich Hale, 34

MAY 18

Muhsin Corbbrey, 41
Gabriel Gonzaga, 40
Kazuhisa Watanabe, 36
Frank Camacho, 30
Maycee Barber, 21

MAY 19

Andre Gusmao, 42
Wagner da Conceicao Martins, 41
Georges St. Pierre, 38
John Maguire, 36
Augusto Sakai, 28
Sergey Khandozhko, 27

MAY 20

Steve Berger, 46
Roger Huerta, 36
Alexander Shlemenko, 35
Jinh Yu Frey, 34
Ramazan Emeev, 32

MAY 21

Bruce Buffer, 62
Scott Smith, 40
Ricardo Lamas, 37
Aung La N Sang, 34
Renato Carneiro, 30

MAY 22

Murilo Rua, 39
Tim Snyder, 39
Mark Oshiro, 36
Fumihiro Kitahara, 35
Joe Lauzon, 35
Keita Nakamura, 35
Teemu Packalen, 32
Steve Garcia, 27

MAY 23

Beau Baker, 40
Aaron Miller, 39
Sean Loeffler, 37
Jordan Dowdy, 33
Myles Price, 31

MAY 24

Paulo Filho, 41
Frank Mir, 40
Alex Serdyukov, 39
Josh Thornburg, 35
Emily Whitmire, 28

MAY 25

Brad Blackburn, 42
Hudson Rocha, 38
Mark Anthony Serkez, 38
Ulysses Gomez, 36
Dan Lariviere, 36
Scott Askham, 31
Ben Fodor, 31

MAY 26

Kenny Florian, 43
Rob McCullough, 42
Lyman Good, 34
Jeremy Stephens, 33
Ricky Steele, 31

MAY 27

Gideon Ray, 46
Chris Cariaso, 38
Will Campuzano, 33
Diego Brandao, 32
Michael Hill, 32
Anthony Leone, 32
Geane Herrera, 29

MAY 28

Rory Singer, 43
Andy Wang, 42
Aaron Rosa, 38
Brian Melancon, 37
Scott Heckman, 35

MAY 29

Travis Fulton, 42
Mamoru Yamaguchi, 42
Georgi Karakhanyan, 34
Carlos Augusto Inocente Filho, 33
Steven Peterson, 29

MAY 30

Lyoto Machida, 41
Yves Jabouin, 40
Ivan Menjivar, 37
Bart Palaszewski, 36
Amanda Nunes, 31

MAY 31

Akitoshi Tamura, 39
Matt Veach, 38
Maria Rios, 36
Elias Theodorou, 31
Jessin Ayari, 27