Francisco Rivera Eyes Urijah Faber Rematch After UFC Fight Night 68 Win
No. 11-ranked bantamweight Francisco Rivera returned to action at last night’s UFC Fight Night 68 from New Orleans, Louisiana, taking on Alex Caceres. Rivera was able to get back on track in emphatic fashion, landing a beautifully timed counter right, left combo that knocked Caceres out cold in the first round.
This was an important win for Rivera, as his last fight was quite disappointing. Prior to last night’s event, Rivera met former WEC champion and multi-time UFC title challenger Urijah Faber at last December’s UFC 181. Rivera was seeing more success than many thought he would, and many may even say he was winning the bout, that is, before things went downhill. Rivera suffered a subsequent eye poke, which was unseen by the referee, allowing “The California Kid” to lock in a fight ending choke.
After that bout, Rivera underwent eye surgery and returned last night. However, it looks as if he has not forgot about Faber, voicing his desire for a rematch at the post-fight press conference:
“Yeah, I would like to get that rematch. I felt like I was winning that fight against him, and it’s unfortunate what happened. But if UFC makes it happen, lets do it.”
Coming off of a loss to former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar last month, Faber is in a limbo of sorts as to what weight class he will be competing at, and who makes sense for him at this point. Despite the fact that Faber is coming off of a loss, a win for Rivera would still be huge, and this is a fight that makes sense for him. It may make sense for “The California Kid” as well as his options may be limited.
Would you like to see these two go at it again?
