Faber urged Munoz to give MMA a try

World Extreme Cagefighting star Urijah Faber urged 2001 NCAA wrestling champions Mark Munoz to give mixed martial arts a try.

Faber was impressed by Munoz’s wrestling skills and believed he could be a MMA star.

"Mark is the kind of guy everyone likes, and he’s the kind of guy who could easily become a very marketable star in this sport," Faber told Yahoo. "I don’t know if I know of anyone who has ever had even a bad word to say about him."

Munoz took Faber up on his offer, but has admitted that he has struggled with a lot of problems after making the move into MMA.

"I got into this to provide for my family and try to give them a better life, but it’s hard because there are so many sacrifices you have to make along the way," Munoz said.

"You’re living month-to-month, sometimes day-to-day. You stretch the money as much as you can, but the money doesn’t come in as quickly as the bills do. You worry about if they’re going to shut off the electric, and you have to deal with the credit card companies calling. It takes a lot of sacrifice, a lot more than people realise."

Munoz will fight Matt Hamill at UFC 96 on March 7 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

Tags: UFC