Urijah Faber vs. Eddie Wineland Added to UFC 128 in New Jersey

Urijah Faber

It will be a pair of former champion’s meeting up at UFC 128 as Urijah Faber and Eddie Wineland have agreed to meet in a bantamweight fight on the March 19 fight card in New Jersey.

Sources close to the fight confirmed the pairing to MMAWeekly.com on Wednesday, with verbal agreements in place for the March showdown. MMAFighting.com initially reported the bout.

Urijah Faber (24-4) makes his official UFC debut after having been the face of the WEC for several years. The Sacramento, Calif., based fighter dropped down to 135 pounds for his last fight where he made quick work of Takeya Mizugaki in his debut in the division.

Faber was rumored to be in line to take a shot at Dominick Cruz for the bantamweight title, but sources have also confirmed that the UFC’s first-ever bantamweight champion has opted to have surgery on his hand. The surgery will put him on the shelf for the next four to six months.

Facing Faber in March will be former WEC bantamweight champion Eddie Wineland (18-6-1), who comes into the fight riding a four-fight win streak.

Wineland has been extremely impressive lately picking up a TKO win over Will Campuzano, and then a KO slam finish of Ken Stone at WEC 53 earlier this month.

The two bantamweights will likely square off with a title shot likely awaiting the winner, although no official announcement has been made as such.

The fight between Faber and Wineland will likely make the televised portion of the UFC 128 pay-per-view broadcast.