Assuming he gets past Ricky Simon this weekend, Urijah Faber isn’t ruling out a potential fight with “Triple C” Henry Cejudo.
Ahead of his return to the UFC this weekend, Urijah Faber isn’t ruling out a potential matchup with champ champ, Henry Cejudo.
Faber (34-10) hasn’t fought since December 2016 when he defeated Brad Pickett by unanimous decision in his hometown of Sacramento, California. With the UFC returning to Sacramento this weekend, Faber will return to face Ricky Simon in the co-main event.
Talking to MMA Fighting about his return, Faber discussed a fight with Cejudo, who called out “The California Kid” after he won the UFC bantamweight title at UFC 238 last month.
“Absolutely, I’ll never rule that out,” Faber said. “Henry just called me out, the current champ at two different weight classes and an Olympic gold medalist. So that’s an enticing fight for me because of the matchup, and you know, the reason I’m in the sport. And the fact he threw me in the mix and we talked about it 10 years ago prior, which is kind of cool how that all played out. So that’s always in the back of my head, for sure.
“Theres a video on YouTube of me where I’m interviewing Henry and introducing him to the world as the Olympic champ and his new shoe and that was 10 years ago. He was there talking shop about getting involved and everything else so we spent some time, and then at the end of it, he said, ‘What do you think about maybe you and me fighting some day,’ and I took it real serious, in a good way.
Unsure if his return to MMA will be a one-off, if things go his way this weekend Faber said he could face Cejudo for the bantamweight title next. The 40-year-old has fought for the 135-pound title four times in his UFC career (one being an interim shot) and lost out every time.
“I mean I can do it after this one,” Faber said. “When I retired, the year I retired I fought for a world championship, I lost a decision to Dominick Cruz and I was ranked like number six in the world or something like that, so that’s how I retired, off a win. So that’s where my head has been at.”