big moves involving multiple former
Ultimate Fighting Championship talents.
On Tuesday,
news broke that Henry
Cejudo, who recently retired from MMA competition, is planning
on slapping back on his singlet to wrestle in the RAF promotion. At
the time, his opponent was not announced, but on Friday the
organization released
the name of his adversary for the Feb. 28 show at the Mullett Arena
in Tempe, Arizona: Urijah
Faber, at 155 pounds.
While swimming in the same circles, the two longtime 135ers shared
many opponents but never faced one another. The 2008 Olympic gold
medalist in freestyle wrestling left MMA behind in December after
his fourth straight loss, falling short on the scorecards to
Payton
Talbott at UFC 323. Before his struggles, “Triple C” served as
one of the few two-division champs in company history, as the only
man to do so at 125 and 135 pounds.
Faber, 46, has not set foot in a cage as a competitor since
Petr
Yan knocked him out at UFC 245 in 2019. Since then, “The
California Kid” was briefly linked to the ill-fated Global Fight
League promotion, and he has dabbled in grappling with multiple
combat jiu-jitsu and wresting appearances including a one-off at
Abu Dhabi Extreme Championship in 2024.
Trying to Return to Good Graces
In addition to the headlining Cejudo-Faber match, RAF announced on
Friday another bout on its Feb. 28 lineup. At 145 pounds, ex-UFC
flyweight and ranked combatant Muhammad
Mokaev will be setting foot on the RAF mat. He will grapple
with three-time DI-AA wrestler and current Professional Fighters League competitor
Bryce
Meredith.
Despite winning all seven of his appearances in the Octagon,
including four submissions—he still holds the No. 3 spot at
flyweight for the most landed—the UFC cut loose Mokaev after his
grinding affair with Manel Kape
in 2024. The UFC brass explained that Mokaev’s contract was not
renewed due to reasons outside of the cage not limited to
negotiation issues.
Wyoming’s Meredith saw his undefeated MMA record come to a crashing
halt when Lazaro
Dayron knocked him out at PFL 10 in August. Leading up to that
match, Meredith had won all seven of his pro outings, all of which
contained within the Legacy Fighting Alliance, Bellator MMA and PFL cages. While he never won a
Division I wrestling championship, Meredith medaled in 2016, 2017
and 2018 as a member of the University of Wyoming squad.
THIS MATCHUP 👀🤯
Henry Cejudo vs Urijah Faber at RAF06.
Be the first to know when tickets drop – https://t.co/NytGLKV4U3
Streaming exclusively on @foxnation
FEB 28 at 9 PM EST pic.twitter.com/nZI10a4GeE— Real American Freestyle (@RAFWrestlingUSA)
January 2, 2026