The California Kid is back. 

After confirming in a recent interview with Dan Hardy that he has accepted a contact to resume his mixed martial arts career in the UFC, it has been reported by Dave Meltzer that Faber will face the 15-1 Ricky Simon at UFC on ESPN+ 13  in Faber’s hometown of Sacramento, California on July 13.

Faber, who turned 40 two weeks ago, hasn’t competed in the UFC since a December 2016 win against Brad Pickett as he snapped a two-fight losing streak after coming up short in successive fights against Jimmie Rivera and Dominick Cruz.

Simon, meanwhile, has won three straight in the UFC since debuting in April of last year. He was ‘discovered’ as part of the Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, though did have two further bouts — both wins — before moving to the UFC.

Faber had confirmed in a recent interview with Dan Hardy that he had accepted a comeback fight with the UFC, adding that occasional conversations with Conor McGregor proved an inspiration — though the Irishman appears keen to see Faber mixed it up with T.J. Dillashaw, though he remains suspended since being found to have ingested EPO in January.

“Looking at today’s landscape, I just know that I can compete easily,” Faber said in an interview with Dan Hardy. “I’ve stayed in great shape. It sounds like fun and the reason I stopped is because I wanted to. The reason I’m coming back is I have decided I want to … I just accepted a fight yesterday, I don’t know if that’s supposed to be put out yet.

“Conor McGregor and I talk on occasion and he’s always, like, clawing at me, ‘Go get that snake! Go get that weasel!’ and you have other sentiment about that. ‘The story’s not over!’, you know? You know how Conor is. He’s hilarious. We have little private conversations on occasions like that.”