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I was in my car by 9am. I had called Urijah Faber on Saturday as I drove from Huntington Beach to Fresno and told him that I was coming up to visit. A quick text to him at 11am to find out what time he was planning on training had I heading to his house at noon instead of the gym. After a 2 and a half hour drive to Sacramento, I walked into his house to find a bunch of his team on the couch watching the olympics. I knocked on his bedroom door, waited for a response, and entered to find him still curled up under the covers.
I went back in the living room to watch the Olympics with the guys and was enthralled by the women's group gymnastics routines. Urijah came bouncing out of his room; he started shadowboxing in the living room with such fervor it was like he had been up for hours. Five of us piled into his Tahoe, and after a hello from his dad, Theo, went downtown to get breakfast at Cafe Bernardo's.
Urijah stepped up to the counter and ordered a stack o' cakes, and a fruit bowl with granola and yogurt. I chose a breakfast burrito, and also opted for the same fruit bowl. Mine came all mixed together while his was "some assembly required". That fruit bowl was my favorite thing there; it had strawberries, peaches, bananas, and mixed berries as well as home made granola and yogurt. I have to note that I dislike melon a whole lot, and that there wasn't one bit of the wretched fruit in my breakfast that morning! The five of us tore through the plates of food and piled back into the tahoe to go back to Urijah's.
All Urijah's guys live in one of the surrounding houses on the block; he owns three there, and is in the process of buying the one directly next door to him. He changed and grabbed all his team mates including crazy Master Thong, his muay thai coach who speaks very little english, and it was back into the Tahoe to head downtown again. I made sure to strap my seatbelt in and hold tight to all my belongings; Urijah drives like a bat outta hell!
It was about 2pm when we walked into Ultimate Fitness (Urijah's gym) and they started training on Sunday afternoon. Urijah started with a warm up run on a treadmill as I speedwalked on the one next to him. Each of his guys went off on their own and started doing their own warmups and workouts. Master Thong, Scott and Tommy kicked around a soccer ball, and Dustin started hitting the heavy bag.
Master Thong wrapped up Urjiah's hands and they stepped into the boxing ring located in the middle of the gym. Urijah began shadowboxing and then worked on his foot work as Master Thong used a whiffle ball bat and jabbed and swung it in his direction. Urijah blocked, ducked, and kicked over the bat; an excercise I had never seen him do before. They did about three rounds of this. I shot photos and then put my camera down and picked up a jump rope; I was trying to get my workout in, three minutes at a time. I ended up doing 5 rounds of jumping rope as I shot Urijah.
They took a water break and then laced up Urijah's gloves. He hit focus mitts for about three five minute rounds before switching to thai pads for another two. For most, that would have been the end of their workout. But for Urijah, even though it was technically his day off, it was only the beginning.
They continued over to the heavy bag where Urijah did at least three rounds of punching it. They removed his gloves and he continued onto another few rounds of kicking. Then it was on to knees on the hanging bag, and he finished off with the double end bag. Master Thong rolled out a huge tire, and then turned and unwrapped Urijah's hands.
Without hesitation, he started hitting the tire with the hammer. He took a minute break in between each round and as he did that, I started doing resistance excercises. After all was said and done, I got a pretty good workout in. He finished five rounds on the tire, and then stepped onto it and shadowboxed while constantly moving and jumping on top of the tire.
Dripping sweat and exhausted, he finally called it a day. He and Master Thong got in the ring and cooled down by doing crunches and standups, followed by stretches. Um yeah, he called it a day, and THEN did more excercise. lol.
All Urijah's teammates had long since finished working out and were on the computer, or watching tv. It only took a few moments for everyone to grab their stuff and load back into the car. Everyone voted to make a stop at Jamba Juice and I ordered a Citrus Squeeze with an Energy boost for myself as well as a ridiculously large fresh squeezed orange juice for Urijah. We stopped for gas (yes, he pumps his own gas!) and then with an apple to his ear, made our way back to his block.
When we got back, Urijah and I walked next door to the new house he was buying. His dad was there doing some maintenance work on it, and had just installed a new stove. He took me on a tour of the new spot and inspected all the work that his dad had finished. I left him there watching the video I had taken of him training that day and went over to his house next door to load some of the pictures to my laptop.
He took off over to one of his other houses to take a swim and then sit in the hot tub. I caught up with him over there a bit later as he was relaxing his tired muscles. I dipped my feet in the hot tub as they relaxed there and then ducked out of the way as Master Thong started hitting golf balls across the back yard. When he was done, he chucked the golf club across the yard as well. One thing I have learned about that guy is that you never know what crazy thing he is going to do.
I jumped in the shower and cleaned up to go to dinner, and was rushed out the door by the guys already waiting in Urijah's SUV. Nine of us squeezed in and headed to dinner at a Thai place (told you I keep eating thai food!) that Scott had suggested nearby. The place, Thai Chef's house was owned by a nice older Thai gentleman who spoke english pretty fluently. Master Thong was thrilled at the art and statuary that decorated the location. He took Urijah and I around and gestured at the different items. He was especially thrilled about a statue of two Thai boxers.
The owner came around and took our orders and it wasn't long before multiple plates decorated the table. I had ordered my sticky rice as usual, and demonstrated to the other guys how to eat it (Kit Cope had shown me how earlier in the year). Master Thong was already rolling his rice into a ball and I pointed in his direction to prove to validate to the guys that I knew what I was talking about.
Papaya Salad, BBQ Chicken, Coconut Soup, Broccoli Chicken, Seafood soup, and more! Urijah ordered 3 different plates of food just for himself. With nine of us, a the table, I didn't see an open space anywhere. Master Thong stood up, and gave a speech in Thai. The owner of the place translated it, and it went something like, "Thank you all for being my family. It's been great getting to know you guys and train with all of you. Thank you for welcoming me and taking me in." It was really cool to hear, because there was often such a lack of communication between Master Thong and the team due to the language barrier. We finished off the delicious meal by singing happy birthday to Scott, and eating a plate of mango sticky rice. YUMMY!!
We all piled back into the Tahoe and made our way back to Urijah's. Somehow the conversation turned to Virgil and how he always pee's on the toilet seat and needed to stop. He argued the point with everyone and when we got back to the house made a beeline for Urijah's bathroom; Urijah caught him in there using it, all of us laughing at the situation.
I had made plans to go out for the evening so I packed my bags into my car in case I stayed at other friend's houses. I gave Urijah a hug goodbye as more friends and team mates piled into the house. The place is often Grand Central Station; you never know who you might find hanging out on the couch! I bounced out to my favorite bar in Sacramento (remember, I grew up in Sac!) to hang with a bunch people I never get to see. I ended up not making it back to Urijah's that night, and got on the road by noon to head back to Las Vegas.
In closing, I have to say that Urijah's definitely not your typical fighter. He trains in a way that most would say is overtraining, but to him it's just what he does; fight or no fight. He is very business minded with quite a few different projects going on; amazingly his fight occupies only a portion of his consciousness. People seem to gravitate towards him but he has no ego about it and is extremely down to earth. He is a true champion, in and out of the cage.
And one last thing, his new site is up so check it out: http://www.urijahfaber.com
