Earlier this month UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz reinjured his surgically repaired knee and will now collect dust on the shelf until late 2013. By that time, he will have been out of action for more than two years.
As everyone including Cruz knows, life must go on. The sun, it needs to rise. Fights need to be made, interim titles defended and challenged.
Here are five bantamweights who stand to reap benefits from the broken logjam at the head of the 135-pound division.