Coming off yet another unsuccessful title fight with bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz at UFC 199, many thought this might be the end for “The California Kid” Urijah Faber (33-9). The UFC today announced he will be back in action and will take on Jimmie Rivera (19-1) at UFC 203 which takes place on September 10th at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
Title fights aside Faber has only lost one non-title fight in the UFC which was to Frankie Edgar via unanimous decision. Although he said he had some thinking to do after his loss to Cruz at UFC 199 he never mentioned retirement.
Rivera is thus far undefeated in the UFC and has only one loss on his record which was very early in his career. Since that loss he has won 18 in a row which is an amazing feat in itself. A win over Faber could propel Rivera, currently ranked 14 in the UFC official rankings right into the top 10.
UFC 203 currently looks like this:
Stipe Miocic vs. Alistair Overeem – UFC Heavyweight Championship
Fabrico Werdum vs. Ben Rothwell
Nik Lentz vs. Mairbek Taisumov
Damir Hadzovic vs. Yusuke Kazuya
CM Punk vs. Mickey Gall
Jessica Eye vs. Bethe Correia
Urijah Faber vs. Jimmie Rivera