Faber admits run-in with McGregor looked 'rigged'

In retrospect, it looked like a calculated event to sell a well-worn reality show.

A day before being announced as the coaches for the upcoming season of "The Ultimate Fighter," Urijah Faber and Conor McGregor engaged in a mini-brouhaha (conveniently on camera) in the hallway prior to weigh-ins for UFC 189.

"It does look like it was rigged," Faber said on Tuesday's episode of "The MMA Hour," according to MMAFighting.com's Dave Doyle. "I was thinking the same thing. It was super weird in general, but it is what it is."

In reality, the entire incident was the result of an incredibly long line for the men's bathroom backstage.

I was in the hallway backstage and there was one men's bathroom with one toilet, one sink, you know, everything else, and there's a female one, so I'm waiting in line and there's a guy behind me who was like ‘you should check the girls,' cuz there's a lot more guys backstage at UFC than there are girls. And I said no, I'll check into it if you watch the door for me. So I go into the bathroom, I told this guy, I'll go pee real quick, I'll be right out, just make sure if anyone comes they know I'm in there.

So I'm washing my hands and someone goes and tries to shake the knob, so I open the door, and it was someone trying to open the door for Conor, and as I'm walking out he's walking and we're nose to nose. It was super random, wasn't in anyone's locker room or anything like that, we were just in a hallway and it so happens that we get face to face, and the guy looks like he was gonna die, it was crazy.

Ultimately, nothing came of the incident, and McGregor went on to capture the interim featherweight title at the expense of Faber's Team Alpha Male teammate, Chad Mendes.

"He's like, 'what's up little man' and he rubs my head and I grabbed his stomach and was feeling his ribs, his scrawny little rib," Faber said. "And I was like 'man, are you gonna survive?' I don't know what he's thinking, he went, like an armdrag to a double, I mean, he was doing a move and I just had the instinct to turn back do a little wrestling, so I redrag hold both his arms because I don't know what he's thinking.

"So I hold both his arms against the wall, I don't know if he's going to use his chin or what's in his head, he goes 'get your f------ hands off me,' I'm like, dude, I don't have my hands on you, motherf------."