Urijah Faber set to end retirement, reveals he’s accepted UFC comeback fight

Going out on top and induction into the UFC Hall of Fame apparently isn’t enough to keep Urijah Faber out of the cage.

Faber, who retired in December 2016, revealed that he’s accepted a UFC comeback fight in a recent interview with Dan Hardy. Neither Faber nor Hardy shared specific details about an opponent, though a pairing seems to be set based on their vague remarks.

“It’s a good matchup,” Hardy said.

“Yeah, I think so, too,” Faber responded.

A date and location also were not revealed, though UFC on ESPN+ 13 on July 13 in Faber’s hometown of Sacramento, Calif., would seem logical.

Faber, 40, called it a career after picking up a unanimous-decision win over Brad Pickett at UFC on FOX 22 in Sacramento. Seven months later, the former WEC featherweight champion was inducted into the Modern-era wing of the UFC Hall of Fame.

Faber (34-10 MMA, 10-6 UFC), who never won a UFC title in four tries, has remained heavily involved in MMA as the head coach at Team Alpha, training the likes of former champion UFC champ Cody Garbrandt, Sage Northcutt and more. Faber just this past weekend competed in a grappling match vs. 17-year-old Nicky Ryan at Polaris 10. Faber was outpointed and lost.

In his interview with Hardy, Faber discussed how difficult it’s been trying to train just for jiu-jitsu without thinking about MMA.

“My idea was I’m going to take this really serious, but in the back of my mind I really knew why,” Faber said. “And when I think about, ‘Hey, I want to train really hard for jiu-jitsu,’ I just can’t do it. I just end up training for MMA anyway.”

Now Faber is set to put that training to use.

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