UFC fan favorite Urijah Faber might have retired from MMA, but ‘The California Kid’ is spearheading MMA in an exciting new direction.

Yesterday, Faber announced that his California-based gym, Team Alpha Male – home to some of the best mixed martial arts talent in the world – has just signed a groundbreaking sponsorship deal with US airline charter company, Mountain Lion Aviation.

The deal coincides with the launch of of TAM’s new 20,000 square foot training center, which features a variety of new facilities, including an organic health cafe, a yoga room, a ‘kids zone’, and a kickboxing studio.

TAM’s partnership with Mountain Lion Aviation (MLA) will include bonuses for fighters, training scholarships, business and financial consultation, fighter and coach salaries, and free flights for family members to attend fights.

Faber announced the news to Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour (h/t Tom Taylor of BJPenn.com).

“We’ve got incredible backing now,” Faber said. “We’ve got a great, new corporate sponsorship with a great guy named Jim Wilkinson.”

“He stepped up big-time and put up a substantial sponsorship for our team, including salaries for our coaches,” he said. “We’ve always been a self-funded team. The guys pitch in and pay cash to pay for the coaches. Now we’re going to be able to make them more comfortable so they can be hands-on a lot more, spend more time with the fighters, be more involved and make this team even better.”

“We have a scholarship program now, where we’ve got a little bit of a recruiting budget,” Faber added. “We’ve got guys that we’re trying to pull in and build the team throughout, from 110-pound, 105-pound girls to heavyweight guys. We’re looking to grow the team and make the best team in the world through and through.”

“He’s also incorporated a discretionary bonus system, which has kind of gone away with the new ownership of the UFC. You may just end up with a check in your mailbox. That’s how it used to be for the UFC. If Dana White or Lorenzo felt that somebody did something inspiring, they would get a check out of the kindness of their heart. We’re incorporated something very similar here. We already had our first round of our established guys getting awards, which was pretty cool for them.”

“We’re kind of getting a curriculum going on kind of the business life, coaching people through financial stuff with the real-world. Goal-setting and things like that. We’re creating a real curriculum to get these guys going in the real world after the fight game.”

“The last thing is we have our own aviation partnership now,” he concluded. “So, private flights for fight-related things, for friends and family and teammates while we’re going across the West Coast on the fight team.”

MLA chairman Jim Wilkinson is ‘honored’ to partner with Faber and Team Alpha Male, per a new press release.

“Mountain Lion Aviation is honored to partner with Urijah Faber and Team Alpha Male,” Wilkinson said. “We love this sport and we are so honored to be able to support these male and female warriors who serve as great role models for us all. Their dedication to excellence and pursuing their dreams is something we should all celebrate, and we are so proud to be part of their journey. All of us can learn important lessons from these courageous warriors.”

Faber, a UFC Hall of Famer, retired from competition after his decision win over Brad Pickettat UFC on FOX 22. The former WEC featherweight champion founded TAM in 2004 and successfully built one of the most prominent gyms in the MMA sphere. TAM is home to a stable of world class and high-profile fighters, including the likes of Chad Mendes, Joseph Benavidez and current UFC bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt.