After recently announcing that he’d backed off on the idea of retiring, Urijah Faber will return to action against Jimmie Rivera at UFC 203 in Cleveland on September 10th.
‘The California Kid’ is coming off a unanimous decision loss in his trilogy fight with Dominick Cruz at UFC 199 for the bantamweight belt back in June.
It’s left the 37 year-old in an awkward spot as he’s still ranked as the No.2 contender in the division, yet there’s no chance of him getting another title shot while Cruz remains on top.
Clearly, Faber still has a passion for fighting though, and so that’s led to this match-up with the up and coming Rivera, who’s currently placed at No.14 on the official 135lb rankings.
The 27 year-old Rivera is currently 3-0 in the UFC since joining in the summer of last year, with his latest victory coming by way of unanimous decision against Iuri Alcantara in a ‘Fight Of The Night’ performance at UFC On FOX 18 back in January.
The UFC 203 event will mark the promotion’s first ever visit to Cleveland, and so it’s only fitting that the event will be headlined by one of it’s native son’s, new heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum, who’ll fight Alistair Overeem.
Another major heavyweight encounter between former title holder Fabricio Werdum and Ben Rothwell will serve as the co-main event, while former WWE star CM Punk will finally make his debut against Mickey Gall.
