Urijah Faber is strongly considering making a return to mixed martial arts competition.
The last time Urijah Faber competed in the UFC was in December of 2016 when he picked up the unanimous decision victory over Brad Pickett in what was said to be Faber’s farewell bout. Three years later and Faber is swiftly approaching his 40th birthday this May and has gotten the itch to make a return to competition before it is too late and regret potentially sets in. If Faber does decide to come out of retirement, he will have an opportunity to ease into the swing of competition when he takes on Nicky Ryan in a grappling matchup at Polaris 8 on May 25th (transcript via ESPN):
“”With the baby in my life, and with the rejuvenation of my body, and seeing why I stood out for so long, it’s just really, really tempting,” Faber said on The Ariel Helwani MMA Show. “And I’m going to take this time to prepare for this May 25 matchup with one of the best jiu-jitsu players on the planet, to get my body into shape. And I’m going to continue with that and get my body back into [being] a weapon and look for an opportunity to possibly step in if there’s something that makes sense.”
This isn’t the first time Urijah Faber has considered making a comeback since his 2016 retirement. In fact, Faber revealed in this interview that he was offered fights against Cub Swanson and Chan Sung Jung last year:
“I was just so tempted to hop in there because I’ve been feeling great in practice,” he said. “I actually feel like the rest has been a rejuvenating rest. My body feels amazing. My head feels clear. But I don’t like to be doing things on a whim.”
Coincidentally, Conor McGregor posted a tweet a few days ago calling for Urijah Faber to fight T.J. Dillashaw, and even Faber was taken aback by McGregor’s apparent clairvoyance:
“It’s crazy,” said Faber. “That guy is maybe a psychic. I don’t know what he’s thinking, and I don’t know if that is the matchup that will happen, or whatever. But he puts it out, with his Mystic Mac mention, and it was tripping me out.”
Do you believe Urijah Faber should come out of retirement? If so, whom would you like to see him fight upon his return?
