Urijah Faber. File photo
The UFC on Fox 22 card in December might just be the last time we’ll ever see ‘The California Kid’ grace the octagon.
Urijah Faber, the longtime UFC Bantamweight staple, announced on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) that he plans to retire following his scheduled bout against Brad Pickett in his hometown of Sacramento, California.
“I’ve been kind of waiting for this, and this is actually going to be my last fight,” Faber revealed on the MMA Hour. “And it just feels right to do it in [Sacramento] in this new area. 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.”
The 37-year-old fighter, who’s also known as one of the founders of the Sacramento-based gym Team Alpha Male, has been in the UFC in 2011 and has had an illustrious career that has spanned 14 years.
Faber, who lost back-to-back fights to Jimmie Rivera and Dominick Cruz in September and June respectively, has shrugged off retirement rumors in the past months, but it seems like he is truly hanging it up for good.
“I’ve been teetering with it for a long time,” Faber admitted. “The thing is that I’m lucky. Like I said, I have my health and I really love what I’m doing. But just as far as the passion goes, I have a passion for what I’m doing still, but it doesn’t get the same emotion (out of me) that it has in the past.”
Prior to joining the UFC, Faber reigned atop the Featherweight division for several years, captured in various promotions, including the now defunct WEC. He holds victories over former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver and current Bantamweight titleholder Cruz, and is one of the most notable figures who helped propel lighter weight classes into the mainstream.
Faber, however, was unable to capture a UFC title despite fighting for the 135-lb. belt four times. He also headlined the UFC’s first and only card in Manila in 2015 alongside Frankie Edgar.
UFC on FOX 22 will be held inside the newly built Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California, and will be headlined by a Women’s Bantamweight bout between Paige Vanzant and Michelle Waterson. Khristian Ibarrola