Urijah Faber has at least one more fight left in him — and it won't be in the UFC.
Absent from competition for more than five years, "The California Kid" revealed on Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show" that his contract with the company expired due to inactivity. The 45-year-old UFC Hall of Famer said he hasn't been much of a target for other promotions throughout his MMA absence, but when the Global Fight League (GFL) emerged as a new player in 2025, Faber was offered a chance at redemption against his old rival, Renan Barao. They're now set to collide for the third time as GFL's first main event on May 24 in Los Angeles.
"I wasn't really looking for a fight," Faber said. "When they offered Barao or the possibility of Barao, that sounds fun to me. He's also a guy that has two wins over me. He's a guy that doesn't necessarily — we didn't have a perfect meet-up both times. It wasn't like it was scheduled and this and that. Like the first time [in 2012], he was a fill-in for Dominick Cruz. The second time [in 2014], I was a fill-in for Dominick Cruz. He's got two wins over me. I wasn't super happy with the way the last one went. The preparation, the call at the end of it and everything else.
"I've got all these guys doing these crazy things to test themselves as they've gotten older, and for me, this seems like a perfect opportunity," Faber continued. "On top of that, it's risk vs. reward. These guys are paying real money. And at this point in your career, been retired for five years, I've stayed super active as a competitor by grappling against the world's best. I've been in the gym every single day, mentoring, rehashing my techniques, breaking down film and passing on to the next generation. Fifteen minutes is easy for me, man — I could fight 15 minutes in my sleep. I'm excited to get in the greatest health of all time, but now with a purpose."
Faber's hiatus has essentially been a second retirement without ever officially calling it that. The former WEC featherweight champion initially retired in early 2017 while still a contender in the UFC bantamweight division. He famously returned in July 2019 to score a 46-second finish of Ricky Simon in a Sacramento homecoming.
The Simon win launched Faber into a title-contender bout with future UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan. Faber suffered a third-round knockout loss, and since then, has been primarily focused on his Team Alpha Male gym.
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