Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight contender, Urijah Faber, was talking about a potential title fight against reigning division kingpin, Henry Cejudo, after disposing of Ricky Simon during the first leg of his comeback tour.
That talk has now been silenced.
Faber was knocked out by Petr Yan at the UFC 245 pay-per-view (PPV) event last weekend in Las Vegas (full results here), just the second time he’s been stopped under the UFC banner since crossing over from World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) back in early 2011.
Doesn’t sound like “The California Kid” is too broken up about it.
“Congrats to Peter Yan on a great performance,” Faber wrote on Instagram. “This was a continuation of my 40th birthday present to myself… talk about feeling alive. I’m sure we will be battling Petr for the next decade or so at Team Alpha Male, gonna be fun. Hope everyone enjoyed the fight.”
Faber (35-11) is 1-1 in the wake of last July’s return to competition.
Yan (14-1) is undefeated inside the Octagon, where he now stands at 6-0 with three knockout finishes. Currently sitting in the No. 4 spot behind Cory Sandhagen, Aljamain Sterling, and Marlon Moraes, “No Mercy” may or may not enjoy a bump in the official rankings after thumping Faber.
Especially with former featherweight champion, Jose Aldo, entering the 135-pound mix.