UFC
TUF 15 coaches Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber to headline UFC 148 on July 7 in third Championship bout
Feb 10, 2012 - 2:45:39 PM TUF 15 coaches Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber to headline UFC 148 on July 7 in third Championship bout

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

For the second straight year, a Bantamweight Championship bout between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber will headline the UFC's Independence Day weekend event, as UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta announced on Twitter that their coaches battle for The Ultimate Fighter 15 will headline UFC 148 on July 7.

Cruz's sole career loss came against Faber in their first fight back in 2007, and he got his chance to avenge the loss last summer at UFC 132, defeating Faber by decision in that card's main event. He followed that win up with a title defense over Demetrious Johnson in October.

After a close second fight with Cruz, Faber bounced back with a dominating victory over former Champion Brian Bowles in November, setting him up for another shot at Cruz.

The two rivals will coach the debut season of The Ultimate Fighter on FX, which will air live on Friday nights for a 12-week season. They'll conduct their fight camp in conjunction with the show, and with a July 7 meeting it appears they'll have a couple of weeks afterward to close out their preparations before meeting on pay-per-view.

Penick's Analysis: With the exposure on The Ultimate Fighter, along with Faber's dominant win over Bowles, the UFC will be hoping that this event draws better than their second fight did last summer. That fight was Cruz's first in the UFC, and Faber's first headliner in the UFC, so neither were established with the UFC audience yet. With a couple of fights each in the organization now, and the exposure on TUF, that should change for this summer.

[Urijah Faber art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]