After a long and fruitful career as a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, one that included a championship title for World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight title contender, Urijah Faber, retired from combat sports in late 2016.
Fast-forward to 2019 and “The California Kid” is back on the roster.
Perhaps he got bored sitting at home on his couch with nothing to do, or maybe just he wanted to feel the thrill of competition one last time. There’s also the possibility that Faber ran out of money at age 40 and needs another paycheck, which would probably be the worst-case scenario.
That’s according to former teammate, TJ Dillashaw.
“I could always tell when he retired that it wasn’t going to be the last fight,” Dillashaw told Chael Sonnen’s You’re Welcome podcast. “On a technical level, (he) probably maybe should have stayed retired, especially with the young and hungry guys coming up. I’m hoping he’s not hurting for money, even though we’ve had our beefs and whatever — you never want to wish that bad on someone. Personally, I think he probably should have stayed retired, but we’ll see. We’ll see how he comes out.”
Faber (34-10) is booked to face streaking bantamweight prospect, Ricky Simon (15-1), at the upcoming UFC Fight Night 155 event on Sat., July 13, 2019 inside Golden1 Center in Faber’s backyard of Sacramento, California.
If “The California Kid” is still around by the time Dillashaw returns from his drug-test suspension, then a potential grudge match might be in order, one that would hopefully settle this longstanding beef.