5 Things We Learned From UFC 203
3. Urijah Faber - Time To Call It A Career?
Urijah Faber has remained one of the most beloved fighters in the sport for over a decade. "The California Kid" was a staple of pound-for-pound lists for years until he had the misfortune of running into Jose Aldo back in the WEC days, and since that vicious loss he's never been able to regain that same level that he once occupied.
Due to the shallow talent pool in the lighter weight classes in which he competes, Faber has been able to secure multiple title shots. Since the UFC absorbed WEC in 2011, he's been granted four chances at the bantamweight championship, all of them losses with two each to current champ Dominick Cruz and former titlist Renan Barao.
His loss to Jimmie Rivera marks the first time in his impressive 43-fight career where he's suffered back-to-back defeats. In the fight prior to this one - another failure to win the championship at the hands of Cruz - Faber was starting to entertain the idea of retiring. While his skills haven't declined to the point that he can no longer be competitive with the top guys in his weight class, normally when a fighter starts tossing out talk of hanging up the gloves they're already mentally checking out.
At 37-years old, maybe the best move for Urijah would be to settle into coaching and focus on preparing the next generation of Team Alpha Male - specifically stars-in-the-making Cody Garbrandt and Paige VanZant - to continue the respectable legacy he's carved out in the sport.