UFC fan favourite Urijah Faber to retire after UFC on FOX 22

One of the UFC’s most beloved fighters, Urijah Faber, has announced his next fight will be his last.

Faber (33-10), who will face Britain’s Brad Pickett at UFC on FOX 22 on December 17th, has been in poor form recently losing 3 in 4 fights over the last year and a half and has come to the ultimate conclusion that he wants to bow out in his hometown of Sacramento, California.

Speaking to the MMA Hour yesterday Faber, nicknamed “The Californian Kid” said,

"I've been kind of waiting for this, and this is actually going to be my last fight," Faber revealed. "And it just feels right to do it in [Sacramento] in this new area. It just feels like the right time and the right place… 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."

Even though Faber will not return to the cage after this next fight, he will still remain in the business, taking up more of a managerial role from now on at his Sacramento based gym with “Team Alpha Male”, which is the training ground for some of today’s top UFC fighters including Page VanZant, Chad Mendes and Cody Gabrandt to name but a few.

"I've loved just being a part of other people's success," Faber told the MMA Hour’s host Ariel Helwani. "I feel like it's kind of like a perfect time for me to make an exit and work on building this team. I have some entertainment stuff I've been working on, shows and some movie stuff. I've got business stuff that I've been working on, but I'm most excited about growing the next generation of fighters, bringing multiple belts back to the Sacramento area.”