Frankie Perez is cutting his retirement short.

The New Jersey native will make his MMA return against top prospect Marc Diakiese at UFC Fight Night 102 on Dec. 9 in Albany, N.Y., it was announced Monday.

Perez (10-2) surprisingly announced his retirement in August 2015 after a first-round TKO win over Sam Stout. He went 1-1 in his short UFC run before calling it quits. Perez, 27, is a long time member of Team Ricardo Almeida, like Frankie Edgar, Edson Barboza and others.

Diakiese (10-0) is coming off a scintillating UFC debut, beating Lukasz Sajewski by second-round TKO at UFC 204 earlier this month in his native England. The former BAMMA star has finished his last three fights. Diakese, 23, is one of the top prospects in the lightweight division.

UFC Fight Night 102 is headlined by a heavyweight fight between Derrick Lewis and Shamil Abdurakhimov. In the co-main event, Francis Ngannou meets Anthony Hamilton in another heavyweight encounter.