Prior to last night Urijah Faber’s last fight in the octagon was in December of 2017. He defeated Brad Pickett via Unanimous decision. Faber had announced a couple of months before that fight that he was gonna retire. He then confirmed it after the bout announcing an what we thought to be the end of a 13 year MMA career.

Since retiring from the world of MMA Faber has gone on to be inducted into the modern wing of the UFC hall of fame in 2017, and even started getting the acting bug. He did a couple of commercials while still in MMA but did have a little screen time in “Rampage” which stared Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and came out in 2018. 

Alas like some of the greats, Faber would get the itch to fight again. Fortunately for us it was deemed to still be at a high level, as the UFC booked him on one of their cards. Unlike the “Ice Man” Chuck Liddell who came out of retirement late last year and was used as an attraction for Oscar De La Hoya’s dive into MMA promotion. Liddell looked lost and just so slow in his return as he was Knocked out by Tito Ortiz in the first round. There was no way the “California Kid” was gonna suffer this fate. Sure he might lose but it wouldn’t be as ugly as what Liddell went through. 

The UFC determined that Faber was worthy enough of not only a ranked opponent in the Bantamweight division but also a Co-Main event fight on the card. Granted this was only a card that was available behind ESPN’s paywall ESPN+. Not a Pay per view or even televised on ESPN. I digress though, his opponent would be 15 ranked bantamweight competitor Ricky Simon. Simon came sporting a 15-1 record including an 8 fight win streak, and was undefeated in his first 3 fights with the UFC promotion. Not to mention Simon was 14 years Faber’s junior. 

The fight started off not great for Faber. Simon was the aggressor, and Faber to his credit didn’t look like the fight game has passed him by or anything but he had some obvious ring rust. Simon landed some nice jabs in addition to some well timed leg kicks. As the old saying goes, everyone has a plan till you get punched in the face. Faber caught Simon with a huge right hand 37 seconds in and the would finish him 9 seconds later. I’ve seen some complaints about Referee Mike Beltran’s decision to call the fight may have been to early, to me Simon clearly just covers up though which in the MMA community is not considered as defending your self. So at 46 seconds into the first round Faber had won his return fight with a TKO finish.

I gotta be honest I dont know exactly what this means. For the UFC Faber is a draw, something I have been critical of them for not having despite having so many fight cards. I dont think he should get a title fight, but there is money to be had with Faber on a card. I think UFC should play the hits with him and maybe have one more bout against Renan Barao or a rematch with Eddie Wineland. If Faber wins that fight then i think you may try to hold him off till Tj Dillasahw comes off of his drug suspension in 2021 and book Faber against him. Thats a fight that could draw and people would watch as either a co-main event on a Pay per view or the headline fight for a UFC on ESPN card. As we know with the fight game only time will tell.

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