Francisco Rivera Hopes To Fake Out Urijah Faber At UFC 181

UFC 181 is set to go down tonight (December 6, 2014) from Las Vegas, Nevada live on pay-per-view (PPV). Featuring two title fights, it is sure to be a very exciting night.

Before the main card goes down, the prelims will take place on Fox Sports 1. In the main event of the free prelims, Francisco Rivera will take on UFC vet and highly ranked bantamweight Urijah Faber.

Rivera is currently unranked in the official bantamweight rankings and faces a huge test in the No. 5-ranked Faber. As he moves forward in his career, Rivera looks to fix his mistakes often so future opponents cannot use them against him:

“I think every fighter has some type of hole, so I go back and look at my last fight and then I record myself during sparring to see if it’s the same or if I change it up,” he told MMAjunkie Radio. “Then I’m like, ‘I can’t be doing that,’ and I’ll go back and change it or see if I can fix it.”

Going into tonight’s fight, Faber is a very heavy favorite, as he should be considering he has lurked around the top of the division for years now. Media members and fans alike may say that Rivera is a stopover opponent for Faber, who is currently in a tough place in the division.

“The California Kid” has attempted and failed three times to claim UFC gold and at age 35, his time may be running out. But that is not the only problem for Faber. He previously lost to former champion Renan Barao twice, which made it difficult for him to get a third shot. The belt has since switched hands, but things are still a little shaky for Faber as the new champion is his teammate TJ Dillashaw, who he may not want to fight.

Until the title picture changes, all “The California Kid” can do is keep beating whoever the UFC puts in front of him. Rivera could play the role of spoiler when the two meet if he could somehow pull off a huge upset. Rivera claims that he has some tricks up his sleeve and is looking to reveal some new things at UFC 181:

“But once that cage door shuts, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “Once you get hit, you react and go back to your old ways, or you keep on going toward what you’ve been training, and hopefully, that happens Saturday night.

“I’ve changed some stuff up, and hopefully fighting Faber, whatever happens, I stick to my game plan and pull it off.”

Rivera was riding a four-fight win streak (later reduced to three upon a positive drug test), but a loss to Takeya Mizugaki set him back a bit. Faber on the other hand, already owns a win over Mizugaki back in the WEC, which may indicate that Rivera’s chances are slim. However, we all know that one big shot can change any fight:

“Hopefully, I catch him and knock him out,” Rivera said. “That’s my plan. If he wants to come out and be aggressive, that’s fine, because I’m not going to change the way I’m going to be during the fight. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.”

Can Rivera come out and shock the world tonight, or will Faber continue to rack up wins?