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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
With the knee injury to UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz, the UFC announced last week that former WEC Bantamweight Champion Urijah Faber will fight for an Interim Bantamweight Championship at UFC 148 on July 7.
Faber and Cruz are coaching against one another on the current season of "The Ultimate Fighter: Live" on FX, and would have faced each other for a third time if not for the injury. Now, UFC President Dana White will make an official announcement on Faber's new opponent during Friday's new episode of TUF on FX.
UFC representatives revealed the forthcoming announcement during a media conference call on Wednesday.
There's not much mystery to the pick, as Brazil's Renan Barao is expected to be moved up from an undercard bout with Ivan Menjivar into the fight against Faber, but that won't be official until Friday's announcement.
Penick's Analysis: Faber-Barao's the fight to make, and though there's an outside chance they run with Michael McDonald in this slot, I highly doubt that. Instead, Menjivar will get a suitable replacement partner, and Faber will try to become the first person since Barao's very first professional opponent to hand him a loss.
[Urijah Faber art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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