Urijah Faber will retire after his fight with Brad ‘One Punch’ Pickett which goes down at December 17th in Sacramento, California at UFC on Fox 22.
A pro career which started back in November 2013 will soon come to end as one of the leading smaller fighters of all time is due to hang up his gloves. Former WEC featherweight champion and UFC bantamweight title challenger Faber made the announcement on this week’s episode of The MMA Hour.
“I’ve been kind of waiting for this, and this is actually going to be my last fight,” said ‘The California Kid’. “And it just feels right to do it in [Sacramento] in this new arena. It just feels like the right time and the right place.
“I’ve been waiting for this new arena to be built, I was waiting for that Dominick Cruz opportunity, and I feel like this is going to be an epic event and I can’t wait to do it in front of the people I love.”
Faber’s Hall of Fame career includes a who’s who of the lighter weight divisions. He helped popularize the smaller classes and was in many ways the poster boy of the WEC. Although he reflects on how he’s also been fortunate enough to be part of many other top level MMA careers, he’s hoping to go out with a bang.
“I’ve loved just being a part of other people’s success,” Faber said. “Even guys like TJ (Dillashaw) – I enjoy the fact that TJ and Chad (Mendes) and guys like (Mark) Munoz and Scotty Jorgensen, all these guys that I helped get into the sport. And I’ve seen some of them go. I don’t know, I feel like it’s kind of like a perfect time for me to make an exit and work on building this team.”
The future away from competition, according to Faber, will involve a lot of entrepreneurial endeavors but certainly not a break away from MMA. Owner and captain of Team Alpha Male, he also part-owns the Torque brand as well as a successful construction and home renovation company.
“I have some entertainment stuff I’ve been working on, shows and some movie stuff,” Faber adds. “I’ve got business stuff that I’ve been working on, but I’m most excited about growing the next generation of fighters, bringing multiple belts back to the Sacramento area. And I want to go out with a massive win against a great opponent in my hometown.”
