UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber, 46, wins combat jiu-jitsu bout at Hard Rock Live
With strains of “California Love” starting to boom at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento at Fire Mountain near Wheatland on Friday evening, Urijah Faber made his way toward the octagon, a walk that reflected how far his life had taken him.
Near steps leading to the octagon, where Faber was due to fight Francisco Rivera Jr., stood Sacramento State President Luke Wood. Faber, a 46-year-old UFC Hall of Famer and East Sacramento resident, has partnered with Wood and Sac State to create Combat U, a program that blends higher education and fight training.
As Faber got closer to the octagon, he was rushed for a hug by his daughter Cali Faber, 6. She and her brother, Rome Faber, 5, were sitting near the octagon with their mother, Jaslyn Ome, to see their father fight for the first time. After hugging his daughter, Faber embraced his son.
All the while, the crowd seemed to be solidly on the side of Faber, who was a wrestler at UC Davis and has long made Sacramento his home.
Faber and Rivera’s combat jiu-jitsu fight, officially an exhibition, was scheduled as a one-round, 10-minute bout and one of two main events for A1 Combat 33. The fight itself proved anticlimactic, with Faber winning in short order with a straight arm to the neck. By that point, though, it seemed Faber had already won the night.
How the fight went
Coming in, Faber and Rivera’s fight had the makings of a grudge match. The two, who are both retired UFC fighters, had met at UFC 181 in 2014. There, Faber accidentally struck Rivera in the eye, leading to a controversial victory for Faber.
History seemed to repeat itself on Friday evening when the co-main event between Buddy Wallace and Nick Maximov, fought directly before Faber and Rivera’s bout, was deemed a no contest after Maximov was poked in the eye.
Earlier in the evening, Wood; his wife, Idara Essien-Wood; and university spokesperson Michelle Willard, who were sitting together near the octagon, jumped to their feet as another fighter, Hector Fajardo, entered for his match against Joseph Murphy. Fajardo, director of operations for Sacramento State’s Combat U, went on to defeat after surrendering position in the third round.
“One mistake can cost you the whole fight,” Fajardo said.
When Faber’s fight began, he initially went back to his wrestling roots, grappling Rivera. Faber then took advantage of the rules of combat jiu-jitsu, which allows fighters to smack one another. He delivered multiple hits to Rivera before administering a choke he refers to as “No Country for Old Men” — a reference to the 2007 movie and its villain, played by Javier Bardem.
The choke was the straight arm to Rivera’s neck that won the fight, far before the 10-minute mark.
“I wish it would have gone a little longer, but I had a lot of fun and I feel like it was good closure for Cisco,” Faber said.
Wood predicted victory before to the fight.
“If you look at how he’s been doing in combat jiu-jitsu and most recent fights, he’s basically untouchable at this point,” Wood said. “Because he’s able to meld the best part of his wrestling training with the best part of the jiu-jitsu training.”
The fight hadn’t been too intense, even heading in, Faber admitted afterward. He said he took his children backstage before the fight and that he introduced his son to Rivera.
“I told him, ‘Hey, we’re friends and we’re gonna fight like you and your friends fight,’” Faber said. “So I think it was a good lesson to see me relax in this environment.”
What the fight means
The fight had multiple implications.
There was what it meant for Faber’s business. Faber said Thursday that while he wasn’t taking any payment for Friday’s fight, he owned the promotions company, Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat. Ticket sales seemed strong within the roughly 2,500-seat venue.
Then there was what the fight meant for Combat U which, as Wood alluded before the fight, has already been going well. “Students are coming from all over the world to study at Sacramento State so that they can train here with Urijah,” Wood said.
Finally, there was what the night might mean for the future of Faber’s fighting career. One of the spectators on-hand Friday was Jesus Tarango, chair of Wilton Rancheria, the tribe that owns Sky River Casino in Elk Grove. Tarango said after that he’d been at the fight on a scouting mission.
Wilton Rancheria is working on an expansion of Sky River that could be done in 2027 and will include a convention center, hotel and pool spa resort, Tarango said. And when the expansion is complete, sometime around the time Faber will turn 48, Tarango would have no problem hosting him for a fight.
While Faber is not Native American, Tarango would host him for another reason.
“He’s a Sacramento kid and we’re the first nation and this is the place we call home,” Tarango said. “So we would always welcome our own people from our own territory to come back.”
This story was originally published January 30, 2026 at 11:28 PM.
