‘The California Kid’ is back.

On Wednesday night, the UFC announced a bantamweight matchup between the incredibly popular Urijah Faber and fellow California native Francisco Rivera has officially been added to the highly anticipated UFC 181 card in December.

Faber (31-7), a former WEC featherweight champion, was last seen walking away with a third round submission victory over Alex Caceres at UFC 175 in July. Prior to this win, the Sacramento native suffered a controversial first round TKO loss to then champion Renan Barão in their title fight at UFC 169 in February. This loss to Barão not only snapped Faber’s four fight streak but also marked his sixth straight unsuccessful bid to become champion of a Zuffa LLC owned organization. He will enter this bout with 25 career stoppage victories, including 18 by way of submission and a UFC record of 7-3

Rivera (10-3) is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 173 in May. Prior to this loss, ‘Cisco’ was riding a six fight unbeaten streak, which included back-to-back TKO wins over George Roop and Edwin Figueroa under the UFC banner. He will enter this bout with seven career knockout victories.

UFC 181 is scheduled to take place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on December 6. A welterweight title fight between Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler will serve as the night’s main event. A lightweight title fight between Anthony Pettis and former Strikeforce welterweight champion Gilbert Melendez will take place in the co-main event.

Here’s how the rest of the card is shaping up:

 

About The Author

News Manager

José began his career as a mixed martial arts journalist while still enrolled at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University. Since graduating in May 2013, he has attended dozens of high profile UFC fight cards as a credentialed member of the media, providing live cage side coverage through his articles and videos. His work has appeared on UFC.com, ArizonaSports.com and AZCentral. He is also currently one of the main contributors on Power MMA Show at Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, one of the first all MMA radio shows on a major radio station.