Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo is sidelined until 2020 after having shoulder surgery, and when he does return, “Triple C” will have to make his next title defense against Joseph Benavidez at 125 pounds.
In addition, No. 2-ranked bantamweight Aljamain Sterling recently went under the knife as well, so the rest of the division has been put on hold. That means top contenders like Petr Yan (No. 4) will have to explore other options or ride the pine for the foreseeable future.
Perhaps “No Mercy” can battle the resurgent Urijah Faber?
“Petr’s already accepted a fight vs. Faber, but Faber is apparently re-retired,” Yan’s manager, Daniel Rubenstein, wrote on Twitter. “If Frankie (Edgar) wants to fight in Vegas on Dec. 14, it would be Petr’s honor to fight a legend like him. Wish Aljamain Sterling a speedy recovery.”
Rubenstein later told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani that 40 year-old Faber, who recently returned to combat sports with a win over Ricky Simon in July, chose retirement over fighting Yan.
“Managers are getting desperate these days,” Faber said. “Get a life Ruby and Sean Shelby, keep the pillow talk in check please, you know perfectly well my situation. I spoke with Dana today, that’s who I’m dealing with on my next possible fight.”
As far as the rest of the Top 5 of the division, Marlon Moraes, Cory Sandhagen, and Raphael Assuncao are all available, though it sounds as if Yan has his sights set on former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, who is expected to make the drop down to 135 pounds for his next fight.
Edgar defeated Faber by unanimous decision back in 2015.
As of now, the promotion hasn’t made any announcements, but Yan later tweeted that he’s beginning fight camp, so I guess we can expect to hear something on that front sooner, rather than later.