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[BonesKnows]

The California Kid is reportedly set to return to action against English grappler Vaughan Lee.

Another fight has reportedly been added to the UFC's Super Bowl weekend show, and it marks the return of The California Kid. Former WEC featherweight champion and current top bantamweight Urijah Faber is set to take on Vaughan Lee according to Brazilian magazine Tatame.

Faber (26-6 MMA, 2-2 UFC) has competed at 135 lbs following Jose Aldo's destruction of him at "Aldo vs. Faber" for "The Featherweight Championship" back in April 2010. He started off well by submitting Takeya Mizugaki and getting a decision win over Eddie Wineland in his UFC debut. Faber was unable to defeat champion Dominick Cruz at UFC 132. He was supposed to get another crack at the belt (and his 3rd fight with Cruz overall), and he and Cruz were tabbed as coaches for the lone live season of The Ultimate Fighter. When Cruz bowed out with a torn ACL, Faber fought Renan Barao at UFC 149 for the interim title, which Barao took by unanimous decision. It's been over four years since Faber called himself a champion, going 0-5 in his last 5 title fights.

Lee (12-8-1, 1-2 UFC) has fought at bantamweight his entire career and entered the UFC unbeaten in his previous 5 fights. He lost a split decision to Chris Cariaso, but in Japan he pulled off the unique feat of submitting Kid Yamamoto at UFC 144. The success was short-lived as T.J. Dillashaw, a teammate of Faber's, dominated Lee in 2.5 minutes and forced him to tap with a neck crank. It marks the 5th time in 8 losses he's been submitted.
This is a mismatch and that's putting it kindly. Faber is still a high-level fighter and the odds of Lee being competitive with him are remote. It's a gigantic step up in competition for Lee and if he were to win this it'd already be marked as one of the biggest upsets of 2013.

No word on whether this will be on the PPV main card, but Faber is normally popular enough to merit that status so I'd say it will be.

Report: Urijah Faber returns against Vaughan Lee at UFC 156 - Bloody Elbow

Faber via RNC in the 1st round IMO...seems like an easy fight for faber

[W.Silva>C.Norris]

Im starting to think that urijah doesnt have many "easy" fights left. Yes, he's a big favourite in this fight, but I havent seen much from him in a long time to give me the impression he's going to blow through anybody anymore.

[AnchorPunch]

I tend to agree. I think the younger guys are continuing to evolve while Faber is very well defined at this point and there's a ton of tape on him, which is a big advantage to his opponents.

That said, IMO, he's technical enough that while he might not surprise people the same way, he'll still be able to win. I doubt we'll see another string of him finishing people in the 1st like he once did, but I also don't think he'll fall off the way, say, Hominick did.

[Bearded Big Country]

This makes no sense

[rabidsponge]

so lee loses quickly to dillashaw, and is now fighting faber? even with faber losing his most recent fight as well, this doesnt make a whole lot of sense to me..tho i wonder who else could faber have been paired up with?

[lwbrewer]

Faber has been a good draw for the UFC many causal fans know him so I see it as the UFC wanting to add some W's in his colum

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

Hmmmmm, this one is kind of a headscratcher. Not so much a knock on Lee, but I can think of about a half dozen more attractive matchups for Faber at this point.... It isn't as though they're putting this card on in a UK market, I really don't get this considering Faber's younger Alpha Male teammate Dillashaw JUST beat Lee.

Looking at the division, Scott Jorgensen probably makes the most sense "starpower-wise", however you really gotta think that ZUFFA could've gotten a pretty nice co-main on a FX/Fuel card out of Torres/Faber before they cut Torres.

They probably could've also made an interesting "rematch" of sorts with Faber vs. Ivan Menjivar, who got DQ'd against Faber and would've most definately been an exciting fight.

Other names that come to mind include, Chico Camus(who I think puts on a really exciting fight and could have a real breakout showing against Faber) and Erik Perez, who both have MAJOR UPSIDES and could really use a spotlight fight that a Faber matchup could provide(which both would have a decent shot in). I'd even toss in Edwin Figueroa's name as somebody who makes more sense ranking-wise. If they wanted to give Faber a softer bounceback fight against somebody coming off a loss, I'd suggest Yves Jabouin as a more suitable opponent.

The more I look at this matchup and how the division matchups are breaking down(Pickett and McDonald already matched up), I'm surprised they didn't pull Easton and book a Faber/Easton main event, which either way it ends, would establish a relevant top level BW contender.

This is a really weird one IMO. For me I think that matchups with Easton, Menjivar, Camus, Perez, Figueroa and Jabouin are all more relevant and meaningful matchups. I know Garza is talking about cutting down to flyweight, but I'd throw his name in too.

My kneejerk response is that they want to give Faber a gimme?

[1inthechamber]

I think faber is easily top 3 in his division and maybe even still top 5 at 145. Granted there's a lot new talent coming but I think faber is still a tough match up for a lot of ppl. Lets not forget how bad he made Bowles look not long ago.

[BlunTForcE]

Originally Posted by Fedorlei Gomipierre

Hmmmmm, this one is kind of a headscratcher. Not so much a knock on Lee, but I can think of about a half dozen more attractive matchups for Faber at this point.... It isn't as though they're putting this card on in a UK market, I really don't get this considering Faber's younger Alpha Male teammate Dillashaw JUST beat Lee.

Looking at the division, Scott Jorgensen probably makes the most sense "starpower-wise", however you really gotta think that ZUFFA could've gotten a pretty nice co-main on a FX/Fuel card out of Torres/Faber before they cut Torres.

They probably could've also made an interesting "rematch" of sorts with Faber vs. Ivan Menjivar, who got DQ'd against Faber and would've most definately been an exciting fight.

Other names that come to mind include, Chico Camus(who I think puts on a really exciting fight and could have a real breakout showing against Faber) and Erik Perez, who both have MAJOR UPSIDES and could really use a spotlight fight that a Faber matchup could provide(which both would have a decent shot in). I'd even toss in Edwin Figueroa's name as somebody who makes more sense ranking-wise. If they wanted to give Faber a softer bounceback fight against somebody coming off a loss, I'd suggest Yves Jabouin as a more suitable opponent.

The more I look at this matchup and how the division matchups are breaking down(Pickett and McDonald already matched up), I'm surprised they didn't pull Easton and book a Faber/Easton main event, which either way it ends, would establish a relevant top level BW contender.

This is a really weird one IMO. For me I think that matchups with Easton, Menjivar, Camus, Perez, Figueroa and Jabouin are all more relevant and meaningful matchups. I know Garza is talking about cutting down to flyweight, but I'd throw his name in too.

My kneejerk response is that they want to give Faber a gimme?

Not TOO familiar with the lighter weights (especially Batamweight). Thank you for this!

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

Feels like Faber is in the Franklin spot at this juncture. He's a big name and a company guy, but he's somewhat in stasis at the moment.

Faber's losses to Cruz and Barao put him, at the very least a distant third in the division but when you factor in Faber's wins over top BW challengers such as Wineland, Mizugaki, Assuncao and Bowles, there aren't a terrible amount of top matches against top tier BWs to make unless they want to have Faber almost immediately back in the title mix, as matchups with McDonald, Pickett and Easton (who are coming along as the next-in-line contenders at the moment) are all winnable fights for Faber. Since McDonald is up against Barao for the interim potentially and Pickett is tied up with Wineland(who Faber has a win over), they're kind of in a pickle as to how to match him up.

Personally, I'd like to see Faber/Menjivar II just for funzies, but from a business prospective, if they want to bank in on Faber's name value and attempt to build some new stars, I really don't see this being a fight to do it, except to give him a win. Going forward, I think it might be best for business to start using Faber to develop names, I don't see Lee as being one of them.