Reports of a partially torn right shoulder have us wondering if the UFC has jumped the gun on announcing Cejudo vs. Vera for August 19th.
UFC 292 in Boston is looking better than ever after Dana White announced Henry Cejudo and Marlon Vera will fight each other on August 19th.
The card is already headlined by two UFC title fights: Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley for the bantamweight title, and Zhang Weili vs. Amanda Lemos for the women’s strawweight title. Also on the card: Ian Garry, Cody Garbrandt, and Chris Weidman.
Now White has told ESPN that “Triple C” and “Chito” have verbally agreed to scrap as well. No contracts have been signed yet, though, and there is a chance this fight evaporates rather than comes together due to a Cejudo injury. In a recent video on his YouTube channel, Cejudo teased a possible fight in Boston.
“I’m planning on fighting on the same card, there’s some big announcements coming out soon,” he said last week. “August 19th is gonna be the 15 year anniversary of when I won the Olympics. It’s a special day for me and I’m planning on being there.”
The only problem?
“I do have an injury, and I don’t even know where my injuries are coming from honestly,” he said. “Maybe it’s a little bit of that old age but I do got to get my right shoulder checked up to see if, in other words there is a slight tear, you know on my right shoulder.”
“You know, if I’m able to get that healthy I’m able to think a little more clear and be able to you know game plan for somebody like Chito Vera, but as of right now that’s kind of where the question mark is.”
Cejudo is coming off a split decision loss to Aljamain Sterling in May, which was his first fight in three years. As for Vera, he just had an impressive four fight win streak snapped by Cory Sandhagen in March. A win for either man would get them back in the bantamweight contender picture.