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Former WEC champion Urijah Faber isn’t sure what his next career move will be.

Faber, coming off a pair of wins over Ivan Menjivar and Scott Jorgensen, remains atop the rankings as a contender to the UFC bantamweight championship.

However, that belt is currently held by both Dominick Cruz and Renan Barao – both fighters who hold championship wins over “The California Kid.”

“I’m in a weird spot in the sport being one of the biggest names in the lighter weight division, but not having a bunch of guys with big names to fight,” said Faber to The New York Post. “It’s kind of a weird predicament. I want to do the ones that count, the ones that people care about.”

Faber is 5-3 over his last eight fights, with all three defeats being title matches.

Is there a bantamweight, or even a featherweight, that you feel would make for an interesting opponent for Faber? I’d love to see him go one-on-one with Frankie Edgar somewhere down the line.

Photo credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Urijah Faber, who earned a submission victory over Scott Jorgensen, picked up $110,000 for his performance at The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale Saturday.

Complete fighter salaries, which do not include any type of bonus money, were confirmed by MMAjunkie.com through the Nevada Athletic Commission.

Urijah Faber: $110,000 (includes $55,000 win bonus)

Scott Jorgensen: $23,500

Kelvin Gastelum: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)

Uriah Hall: $8,000

Cat Zingano: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus)

Miesha Tate: $28,000

Travis Browne: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)

Gabriel Gonzaga: $24,000

Robert McDaniel: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)

Gilbert Smith: $8,000

Josh Samman: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)

Kevin Casey: $8,000

Luke Barnatt: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)

Collin Hart: $8,000

Dylan Andrews: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)

Jimmy Quinlan: $8,000

Clint Hester: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)

Bristol Marunde: $8,000

Cole Miller: $42,000 (includes $21,000 win bonus)

Bart Palaszewski: $15,000

Maximo Blanco: $26,000 (includes $13,000 win bonus)

Sam Sicilia: $8,000

Daniel Pineda: $26,000 (includes $13,000 win bonus)

Justin Lawrence: $8,000

Photo credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Urijah Faber still has dreams and aspirations of becoming a UFC champion.

“The California Kid” cemented his status as one of the top bantamweights in the world Saturday night, submitting Scott Jorgensen for his second victory of 2013.

Faber, who admitted he suffered a hand injury that kept him from training at 100-percent before the fight, confirmed plans to take a break after accepting a second fight in under six weeks.

“Yeah, I’d like to take a break,” Faber said. “Actually, coming into the fight, I had a hurt hand (from the Menjivar bout). It wasn’t anything real serious, so I basically wasn’t able to spar expect for one time that whole training camp.”

Faber, though, also confirmed interest in a future meeting with rival Dominick Cruz, who was in the FUEL TV analyst chair for the event.

“I’m hoping Dominick can make a little miraculous recovery,” he said. “You need to dig deep there, Dom. You got to tape it up, get in the cage. I want to get Dominick, (interim UFC champion Renan) barao, and hopefully get the winner of those guys. I’m ready for whoever.”

It was too bad that Cruz was injured and caused the cancellation of a third meeting with Faber. While some have been against the two competing again, I think the pre-fight build-up could be awesome, and Faber looks like his old self in his recent fights.

Photo credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Well, we saw how volatile the sport of MMA is last night. Uriah Hall came into the fight with Kelvin Gastelum as a 3:1 favorite and probably one of the must hyped TUF contestants in a long time. Gastelum was able to hold his own on the feet and hit the takedowns he needed to pull off the upset. Gastelum was easily forgotten this season because of the hype behind Hall but at age 21 he proves to be an intriguing prospect. He hasn’t faced any top competition before coming to the house but he was able to smartly defeat Hall in his UFC debut. He is a purple belt at 10th Planet Jiu Jitsue and he is very active on the ground. Last night he was constantly looking to set up submissions and pass guard. His bread and butter going forward is going to be his grappling game. Hall is still in the mix as an interesting prospect and might have needed a wake-up call like this to get him focused. Hall got some offense going in the second round but he truly gave a way the first with his cockyness. It was clear Hall didn’t respect Gastelum’s striking or takedowns as as a result he was beaten by Gastelum.

Urijah Faber may still have one run left in him at the Bantamweight division. He still has some popularity with the casual fan which is always going to work in his favor. With the future of Cruz’s belt in flux, Faber may find himself in a favorable position once again if he can rattle off a few wins. Jorgensen is the classic case of a guy who is good but not great. Every time he has faced truly elite fighters he has faltered. Jorgensen isn’t exactly old but at age 30, he has had many chances to break through and has failed to do so. You have to think that he has peaked as a fighter and he’s just never going to make it into that top echelon of Bantamweights.

Cat Zingano looked impressive but also a little shaky at times. She essentially stopped moving in the midst that leg-lock attempt in the second round and maybe that was a case of octagon jitters. A more experienced fighter would have worked harder to get out of the submission but she kind of just froze. On the other hand, her grappling was impressive and once she got Miesha Tate down midway through the second round, she was able to beat her down. Tate could not get to her feet in either the second or third rounds and struggled to defend herself against Zingano’s punches. I think the stoppage by Kim Winslow was fine because of the overall accumulation of damage. Tate hadn’t really made effort to defend herself over the course of a minute or so. We’re going to miss out on the potential drama of Ronda Rousey and Tate coaching against each other but Rousey always seems to find a way to create pre-fight drama.

Gabriel Gonzaga took some hard shots and has had questions about his chin for a while. It might be time for him to decide whether or not he wants to retire once more. On the other hand, we didn’t necessarily learn anything new about Travis Browne. Hopefully he can get back in the cage soon and continue developing as a fighter because the fight was so short.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 17 Finale will air tonight at 9pm/6pm from The MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Nevada.

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It’s time to crown another Ultimate Fighter, as Uriah Hall will face Kelvin Gastelum Saturday night in the co-main event of The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale.

Hall, Gastelum, main eventers Urijah Hall and Scott Jorgensen, and the rest of the card stepped on the scales earlier today for the official weigh-ins.

Complete results can be found below:

MAIN CARD (FX)

Urijah Faber (136 lbs.) vs. Scott Jorgensen (135.5 lbs.)

The Ultimate Fighter 17 Final
Uriah Hall (185 lbs.) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (186 lbs.)

Miesha Tate (135.5 lbs.) vs. Cat Zingano (136 lbs.)

Travis Browne (239 lbs.) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (261 lbs.)

Bubba McDaniel (184.5 lbs.) vs. Gilbert Smith (185 lbs.)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FUEL TV)

Josh Samman (184 lbs.) vs. Kevin Casey (185 lbs.)

Luke Barnatt (185 lbs.) vs. Collin Hart (184.5 lbs.)

Dylan Andrews (186 lbs.) vs. Jimmy Quinlan (185 lbs.)

Clint Hester (185 lbs.) vs. Bristol Marunde (185.5 lbs.)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FACEBOOK)

Bart Palaszewski (145 lbs.) vs. Cole Miller (146 lbs.)

Maximo Blanco (147 lbs.) vs. Sam Sicilia (146 lbs.)

Daniel Pineda (145 lbs.) vs. Justin Lawrence (145 lbs.)

Urijah Faber and Scott Jorgensen are friends first. Though they are set to fight tomorrow, that doesn’t let them be hostile to one another, as they have both adopted a “business” outlook on the fight.

Former WEC champion Urijah Faber will step into the Octagon Saturday night to meet a friend, taking on Scott Jorgensen in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale.

The two haven’t trained together for several years, but are still close. “The California Kid” recently discussed why he accepted the fight while appearing on UFC Tonight.

“We put off the fight for a long time,” he said. “I was at 145 for most of the time and we were able to avoid the fight. You can’t avoid everybody. You’ve got to bite the bullet and today’s the day and I’m ready to rock.”

Faber is coming off a win over Ivan Menjivar, and said it will be “a little bit weird” to trade strikes with Jorgensen because “it’s easy to punch or elbow someone in the face when you don’t care for them very much, but this is a different scenario.”

This should be an action-packed match, as both fighters have motors that seem to never run dry and are always looking for a fight.

Urijah Faber doesn’t believe Dominick Cruz deserves to be stripped of his UFC bantamweight title.

Cruz, who’s been sidelined since 2011 due to a pair of knee injuries, is targeting a return to the Octagon later this year.

In the meantime, the UFC has created an interim title – which Renan Barao won by defeating Faber. “The California Kid,” though, feels like Cruz has done enough in his past to remain the champion.

“I don’t feel like he should be stripped of the best,” Faber said, during a recent appearance on Sherdog Radio. “The guy’s earned it. Part of the reason why he’s injured is because he puts it all out there. I wouldn’t count the guy out.”

While Cruz remains unscheduled, Faber has a bout set for April, as he will meet Scott Jorgensen in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale.

Scott Jorgensen and Urijah Faber are ok with fighting each other. Jorgensen feels like both men will be able to separate their friendship and business to deliver an exciting fight for the fans.