Umar Nurmagomedov is back, but this time he’s leaving the UFC cage behind.Instead, the former bantamweight title challenger is about to make his Real American Freestyle debut against MMA legend Urijah Faber in a freestyle wrestling showdown on November 14 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Yes, Umar vs. Faber, that’s actually happening.

“THIS MATCH 🤯 Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Urijah Faber on NOV 14 at Etihad Arena for #RAFABUDHABI,” Real American Freestyle announced on X.

The bout will mark Umar Nurmagomedov’s first competitive appearance since his brutal second-round knockout loss to Song Yadong at UFC Shanghai.That defeat was just the second loss of his MMA career, following his unanimous decision defeat to Merab Dvalishvili in their bantamweight title fight at UFC 311.

And then there’s the wild connection between Urijah Faber and the man who just handed ‘Young Eagle’ his latest loss. The 47-year-old is the head coach at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California, where Song Yadong trains. In fact, ‘The California Kid’ was actually in Song’s corner when he brutally knocked out Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC Shanghai.

So now, just months after being on the other side of that knockout, Urijah Faber is stepping onto the mat against the Dagestani himself. Talk about an unexpected twist.

The 47-year-old also isn’t exactly walking into unfamiliar territory here. While he hasn’t competed in MMA for seven years, the former WEC featherweight champion and three-time UFC bantamweight title challenger has already made two appearances in RAF. His last MMA fight came at UFC 245, where Petr Yan stopped him by knockout.

Faber has already gotten a taste of what RAF has to offer, and it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing. At RAF 06, he faced former two-division UFC champion and Olympic freestyle wrestling champion Henry Cejudo at lightweight, losing via technical fall.

Then came another technical-fall loss at RAF 08, this time against UFC lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan at middleweight. Still, ‘The California Kid’ has a legit wrestling background.

He competed in NCAA Division I wrestling before making his mark in MMA, while ‘Young Eagle’ comes from the famed Dagestani wrestling system that has been a huge part of his game inside the UFC.

And honestly, the whole thing is a little ironic considering what happened after Umar Nurmagomedov’s loss to Song Yadong. Umar’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, revealed that the loss had apparently pushed the Dagestani toward a pretty dramatic change in mindset.

“Umar called me the other day, and he was like, ‘I’m not a wrestler. I’m not gonna wrestle again. I’m just gonna knock everybody out. I’m gonna make sure I make it look easy,” Abdelaziz said on Submission Radio.

Well, it seems like he had a change of mind. Instead of jumping straight back into MMA and putting that new striking-first approach to the test, Umar Nurmagomedov is heading right back to the wrestling mats. And he’ll be doing it against the very man who helped prepare Song Yadong for the knockout that started this whole conversation.

But, as you’d expect, the bizarre matchup immediately had fans cracking jokes online, especially after Abdelaziz’s now-famous claim that Umar Nurmagomedov was officially done with wrestling.

Fans mock Umar Nurmagomedov’s unusual comeback

The Umar Nurmagomedov-Urijah Faber didn’t take long to get fans cracking jokes, especially with Ali Abdelaziz’s “no more wrestling” comments still fresh in everyone’s mind.

“Bro got slept so hard he went to wrestling 😭,” one fan joked. Another fan went straight back to Abdelaziz’s post-fight comments, writing, “I thought he told Ali ‘no more wrestling.’ He got slept so bad he needs to pin a retired fighter to gain some confidence back.”

And another simply summed up the whole situation with, “No more wrestling’ Umar said.”

Others joked that wrestling may now be the safest option for the former UFC title contender. “The only way Umar can’t get knocked out,” one fan wrote, while another said, “Umar got rocked so hard the only chance he has of winning any combative sport is to wrestle an ancient Faber.”

The connection to Song Yadong also became a major talking point. Since Faber is Song’s coach and cornered him during the knockout win, some fans viewed the matchup as an unusual attempt at revenge.

“He’s wrestling the corner coach that got him knocked out,” one fan wrote.

Another joked, “Revenge is knocking SONG out, not his 50-year-old retired skateboarder coach.”

“Revenge is laying on his coach? He got knocked tf out lol; this wouldn’t be revenge at all,” another fan added.

One final reaction pointed out the irony of the matchup after Umar Nurmagomedov’s stated intention to move away from wrestling: “Umar said he wants to focus on his striking, so he books a wrestling match against Song Yadong’s coach.”

For now, all eyes will be on November 14. Umar Nurmagomedov’s first outing since the Song Yadong knockout was already going to be interesting, but throwing Urijah Faber, Team Alpha Male, and the whole “no more wrestling” saga into the mix has made this one impossible to ignore.