Longtime mixed martial arts (MMA) veteran Urijah Faber has stated repeatedly that he would be open to a comeback fight, especially since Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is gearing up to stage an event in his home town of Sacramento, California on July 13.
And if you think the “The California Kid” was just teasing, he wasn’t. During a recent interview with Dan Hardy, Faber revealed that he has already actually accepted a fight.
“Looking at today’s landscape, I just know that I can compete easily,” Faber said in an interview with Dan Hardy for Full Reptile (transcription via Mac Life). “I’ve stayed in great shape. It sounds like fun and the reason I stopped is because I wanted to. The reason I’m coming back is I have decided I want to … I just accepted a fight yesterday, I don’t know if that’s supposed to be put out yet.”
Faber retired from MMA in 2016 after defeating Brad Pickett at UFC on Fox 22, which also went down in Sacramento. Prior to that, Faber suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in his career. To hear Urijah tell it, he simply retired because he wanted to, saying that health and lack of love for the game had nothing to do with it.
Interestingly enough, after coaching against Conor McGregor on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), the two men have stayed in contact with one another. And “Notorious” has always been in his ear about fighting again, specifically to settle a score with former Bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw.
“Conor McGregor and I talk on occasion and he’s always, like, clawing at me, ‘Go get that snake! Go get that weasel!’ and you have other sentiment about that. ‘The story’s not over!’, you know? You know how Conor is. He’s hilarious. We have little private conversations on occasions like that.”
After settling down and starting a family, producing a film and opening several more gyms, Faber is ready to hit the Octagon once again. Against who, though, remains to be seen.