Urijah Faber gets opponent for comeback fight

Urijah Faber has long been teasing a return to the Octagon, and now it’s official. The former WEC featherweight champion and long-time UFC bantamweight contender will battle Ricky Simon at UFC Sacramento on July 13.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Dave Meltzer was the first to report this new matchup.

Urijah Faber retired from competition in late 2016, when he defeated Brad Pickett by unanimous decision. Prior to this victory, he experienced his first consecutive losses, losing back-to-back decisions to Jimmie Rivera and Dominick Cruz.

Ricky Simon is currently a strong 15-1 overall. In his last fight, he picked up one of his biggest wins to date, defeating the veteran Rani Yahya.

“It’s very serious,” Urijah Faber said, teasing his retirement plans on a recent episode of The MMA Hour. “No one really gets to see the behind-the-scenes of what goes on when events are being put together or anything like that and throughout my time being retired I’ve been offered fights on a couple of different occasions and learned my lesson if I’m starting to get tempted or thinking about it just to get myself in good shape. I’ve always stayed in the gym obviously being with the team and helping to mentor the guys. Training all year round, so probably over the last six months given it a little more consideration after being offered a couple of short-notice fights and I’m like, ‘Man, that’s kind of tempting.’

Here’s the UFC Sacramento card as it currently stands with the addition of this Faber vs. Simon bout.

• Urijah Faber vs. Ricky Simon
• Cynthia Calvillo vs. Livinha Souza
• Darren Elkins vs. Ryan Hall
• Cezar Ferreira vs. Marvin Vettori
• Beneil Dariush vs. Drakkar Klose
• Sara McMann vs. Nicco Montano
• Martin Day vs. Benito Lopez
• Karl Roberson vs. John Phillips

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 5/28/2019.