Faber was an NCAA wrestler. With his base in wrestling, he later started Brazilian jiu-jitsu and quickly earned a brown belt under Fábio "Pateta" Prado. Faber won the WEC Featherweight Championship at WEC 19 on March 17, 2006, and held the title for over two and a half years until losing it to Mike Brown at WEC 36 on November 5, 2008. He went on to challenge for the WEC Featherweight Championship two more times and challenged for the UFC Bantamweight Championship four times.
Faber is widely regarded as one of MMA's pioneers for establishing legitimacy to lighter-weight classes. After his retirement on July 6, 2017, Faber was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame as a part of the Modern-era wing. He came out of retirement in 2019 and defeated Ricky Simón by first-round TKO.
Faber was born on May 14, 1979, in Isla Vista, California, to Theo and Suzanne Faber. He is of Dutch descent on his father's side, and Italian, English, and Irish on his mother's side. He went to Glen Edwards Middle School, Casa Roble High School and Lincoln High School (Lincoln, California). He has two siblings, Ryan and Michaella. Faber graduated from the University of California, Davis with a bachelor's degree in Human Development. While at UC-Davis, Faber qualified for the national NCAA tournament in 2001 and 2002 in wrestling.

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