Urijah Faber vs. Ivan Menjivar Targeted for UFC 157 in Anaheim

IVAN MENJIVAR VS. URIJAH FABER REMATCH OFFICIAL FOR UFC 157 IN ANAHEIM
BY MMAJUNKIE.COM STAFF ON DEC 05, 2012 AT 10:15 AM ET

A bantamweight bout between Ivan Menjivar (25-9 MMA, 4-1 UFC) and Urijah Faber (26-6 MMA, 2-2 UFC) is now official for February's UFC 157 event in California.

MMAjunkie.com passed along news of the bout on Tuesday, and UFC executives recently made it official.

The fight serves as a rematch of their 2006 bout at a TKO event in Canada, where Menjivar was disqualified for an illegal upkick. Both fighters later signed with the WEC.

UFC 157 takes place Feb. 23 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook. Faber vs. Menjivar likely will be part of the PPV main card.

Faber, the WEC's longtime featherweight champion, is stuck in a 1-2 skid following UFC title losses to bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and Renan Barao (for an interim belt earlier this year). A submission win over Brian Bowles separates the two losses for "The California Kid," who went 13-0 from 2005-2008 (but who's 5-5 since then).

Faber now meets Menjivar, a fast-rising contender who's 4-1 in the UFC with his lone loss coming to fellow contender Mike Easton earlier this year. However, the Canadian-Salvadoran fighter and Tristar Gym member recently rebounded from that loss with a submission victory over Azamat Gashimov at UFC 154, which earned him a "Submission of the Night" bonus (his second in three fights).