UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz was scheduled to return at UFC 169 to have a unification bout against Renan Barao, but Cruz has suffered a groin tear and is out of UFC 169.
With Cruz being injured once again, UFC President Dana White announced on ESPN today that Cruz has vacated thetitle and Barao will now defend the bantamweight title against Urijah Faber in the main event of UFC 169.
UFC 169 takes place on February 1st at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey and the fight card will also have another title fight as Jose Aldo defends the UFC featherweight title against Ricardo Lamas.
This will be the second meeting between Barao and Faber, as they initially met at UFC 149 in 2012. Their first meeting was for the interim bantamweight title and Barao won the fight by a clear unanimous decision. Following the fight, Faber admitted that he injured his rib in the opening round, but was not using the injury as an excuse.
Since their first meeting, both fighters have gone undefeated with Barao defending the interim title twice with stoppage victories against Michael McDonald and Eddie Wineland. Faber is coming off a submission of the night victory against McDonald and he ended up going 4-0 in 2013.
The current UFC 169: Barao vs. Faber II card is below.
Main Card: (PPV – 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT)
Renan Barao (31-1, 1NC) vs. Urijah Faber (30-6)
Jose Aldo (23-1) vs. Ricardo Lamas (13-2)
Alistair Overeem (36-13, 1NC) vs. Frank Mir (16-8)
John Lineker (23-6) vs. Ali Bagautinov (12-2)
Jamie Varner (21-8-1, 2NC) vs. Abel Trujillo (11-5, 1NC)
Preliminary Card: (Fox Sports 1 – 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT)
John Makdessi (12-2) vs. Alan Patrick (11-0)
Kyoji Horiguchi (12-1) vs. Chris Cariaso (15-5)
Nick Catone (9-4) vs. Tom Watson (16-6)
Al Iaquinta (7-2-1) vs. Kevin Lee (6-0)
Preliminary Card: (UFC.com – 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT)
Clint Hester (9-3) vs. Andy Enz (7-0)
Tony Martin (7-0) vs. Rashih Magomedov (15-1)
Neil Magny (8-3) vs. Gasan Umalatov (14-2-1)