Former UFC, WEC Star Urijah Faber to Be Honored with Aggie Legacy Award by UC Davis

The post-mixed martial arts career accolades continue to roll in for Urijah Faber.

“The California Kid,” who was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame earlier this year, will be honored with the 2017 Aggie Legacy Award by the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) as part of the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Oct. 28. According to a release, the Aggie Legacy Award is “an honor bestowed upon a past Aggie student-athlete who has since enjoyed an outstanding athletics-related career since departing the university.”

Faber, a former two-time NCAA qualifier as a wrestler at UC Davis, certainly fits that bill. The Team Alpha Male founder enjoyed a decorated mixed martial arts career from 2003 until his retirement late last year. He was one of the WEC’s most popular fighters as the now-defunct promotion’s featherweight champion, and remained a top contender at bantamweight after transitioning to the UFC in 2011. He called it a career following a decision triumph over Brad Pickett at UFC on Fox 22 on Dec. 17.

Faber is the sixth person to win the award since it was created in 2011, joining the likes of football coach Chris Peterson, triathlete Dave Scott, football player/philanthropist Rolf Benirschke, water polo coach Dante Dettamanti and football coach Paul Hackett.

In addition to his wrestling career at UC Davis, Faber also served as a volunteer assistant coach under Lennie Zalesky. UC Davis dropped its wrestling program, along with women’s rowing, men’s swimming and diving and men’s indoor track, for financial reasons in 2010.