UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber is back in action next month when he leads a Team of Alpha Male grapplers into battle at Quintet 3 on October 5 in Las Vegas.
Faber hasn’t competed since calling time on his legendary MMA career almost two years ago, but he has accepted the challenge to compete in Quintet – the unique 5-on-5 submission-only event dreamed up by another UFC Hall of Famer, Kazushi Sakuraba.
Faber told UFC.com: “I’m super excited to be competing again and bring Team Alpha Male to this event. During my career in MMA and even before that when I was wresting, I always looked at combat sport as a game of human chess. I love to plan to outthink my opponents. And Quintet takes that to a whole other level, adding more tools and more complexity because of the team vs team aspect. I can’t wait!”
Team Alpha Male will be one of the four teams in action at the Orleans Arena at the Orleans Hotel & Casino.
The entire event will stream live & exclusively on UFC FIGHT PASS.
As you would expect from a format dreamed up by Sakuraba - a man who used Mongolian chop attacks throughout his iconic MMA career - Quintet takes submission-only grappling and infuses it with pro-wrestling sensibilities.
The result is a unique format which sees teams of five face-off in single matches, where the winner stays on and continues to fight fresh opponents until he, too, is eliminated. This continues until all the members of one team have either been submitted or eliminated from the match by means of a time-limit draw (where both competitors are eliminated).
Sakuraba, now 49, jokes that he invented Quintet as a way to find a way to compete for a few more years. “I need help,” he laughs. “I’m too old to handle these young guys on my own.”
The man who defeated five UFC champions in MMA will be in action himself, giving US fans a rare chance to see the living legend in action.
“I am very excited to bring Quintet to Las Vegas,” he said. “Japanese fans and those who watched our previous events in UFC Fight Pass know what to expect but for everyone else, you are cordially invited to come witness a show unlike you’ve ever seen on American soil.”
The four teams are already taking shape:
Team Sakuraba
Kazushi Sakuraba (UFC Hall of Famer, PRIDE FC legend)
Josh Barnett (former UFC heavyweight champion)
Marcos Souza (Abu Dhabi Grand Slam champion)
Roberto Souza (Abu Dhabi Grand Slam champion)
TBA
Team Alpha Male
Urijah Faber (UFC Hall of Famer)
Dustin Akbari (BJJ black belt, Team Alpha Male coach)
Chris Holdsworth (The Ultimate Fighter Season 18 Champion)
TBA
TBA
Team Polaris (QUINTET 1 Champions)
Craig Jones (Polaris middleweight champion)
Gregor Gracie (World champion, 2004/2005; ADCC third-place 2009)
Marcin Held (former UFC fighter; BJJ black belt)
Dan Strauss (British and European champion; BJJ black belt)
TBA
Ben Tong, Polaris co-owner, said: “Team Polaris is looking forward to defending the title we won at the inaugural QUINTET. The other three teams are very strong, but we are very confident we have the talent and the tactics to win again.”
Team 10th Planet (QUINTET 2 Champions)
Geo Martinez (Three-time EBI champion)
Richie Martinez (EBI 1 runner-up, Gracie Worlds runner-up; IBJJF Worlds runner-up)
PJ Barch (BJJ black belt; Division 1 wrestler)
Adam Sachnoff (BJJ Black belt)
Amir Allam (BJJ Black Belt)
10th Planet head coach Eddie Bravo said: “The rules of QUINTET are the same rules my guys train every day at 10th Planet. We were made for this. If it ain’t broke – don’t fix it: we are coming back with the same team that won QUINTET 2.”
Ticket information will be released shortly at https://www.quintet-fight.com/
