A bantamweight bout between former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber (26-6 MMA, 2-2 UFC) and Ivan Menjivar (25-9 MMA, 4-1 UFC) is being targeted for UFC 157 in February.
Faber returns to the octagon for the first time since losing an interim UFC bantamweight championship match to Renan Barao at UFC 149 in July.
Prior to the fight against Barao, Faber had been set to face current bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz in a trilogy bout. However, that fight never came to fruition, as Cruz suffered a knee injury.
Faber now meets Menjivar, who is quickly moving up the bantamweight ranks, going 4-1 in the UFC with his lone loss coming to fellow contender Mike Easton. The Tristar Gym member most recently earned a submission victory over Azamat Gashimov at UFC 154 in Montreal. That victory earned Ivan the evenings “Submission of the Night” bonus.
UFC 157 takes place February 23rd at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.