Urijah Faber Announces Impending Retirement

Urijah Faber is ending his storied MMA career.

On The MMA Hour Monday afternoon, Faber announced that his UFC on Fox 22 bout with Brad Pickett will be his last.

Faber is a former WEC Featherweight Champion, who defend the title successfully five times. Faber holds huge victories over Dominick Cruz, Brian Bowles, Takeya Mizugaki, Michael McDonald and others. Faber was unsuccessful in his four title fights in the UFC, and last two in the WEC. Despite his recent skid, he's still the #7-ranked fighter in the UFC bantamweight division.

“I’m super excited to fight in (Sacramento) Those are all my people out there," said Faber. "I built our team, Team Alpha Male, it’s like an extended family to me, and I was raised in the greatest Sacramento area all the way through college. It’s going to be a really cool event. I’ve been kind of waiting for this, and this is actually going to be my last fight. It just feels right to do it in in this new area. It just feels like the right time and the right place. I’ve been waiting for this new arena to be built, I was waiting for that Dominick Cruz opportunity, and I feel like this is going to be an epic event and I can’t wait to do it in front of the people I love.”

The 37-year old California native goes into his final fight with a 33-10 record, but has lost three of his last four fights. Faber headlined four UFC pay-per-views during his run, coming up short in each of those efforts. 

Faber wrestled at the University of California at Davis, before going on to win championships in Gladiator Challenge and King of The Cage. Faber was the UFC's 'go-to' bantamweight for several years despite not ever capturing the championship. He competed in a special featherweight attraction against Frankie Edgar in 2015, which he lost. 

Faber will compete against Brad Pickett at UFC on Fox 22 on December 17.