Report: Dominick Cruz replaces Jose Aldo, will meet Henry Cejudo at UFC 250
The upcoming scheduled bantamweight title fight is undergoing a change. According to a report from Combate, Jose Aldo is out of his scheduled matchup against Henry Cejudo, and former champion Dominick Cruz will step in to face Cejudo for the title.
BREAKING: Jose Aldo is out of UFC 250. Dominick Cruz steps in to fight Henry Cejudo for the bantamweight title. Verbal agreement. By @raphamarinho and @anahissa. https://t.co/8aKb5OQVXX
— Marcelo Russio (@MarceloRussio) April 9, 2020
The report states that there is a verbal agreement between both Cruz and Cejudo, but there has been no official announcement by the UFC. Cruz took to Twitter to call out the bantamweight champion, saying that he’s ready to fight on May 9 for the title.
Dear @HenryCejudo,
The real king has already been told that we’re fighting May 9th. I’ll see you there.
P.S. -Bring your other tiny lil friend @cptdasamericas so I can slap you both around. 👋 👋
-Signed, Sealed, Delivered-— Dominick Cruz (@DominickCruz) April 9, 2020
Cejudo became the bantamweight champion when he defeated Marlon Moraes back at UFC 238 in June of 2019, but has yet to defend the title. “Triple C” is the fourth-ever two-weight champion in UFC history, when he defeated Moraes, he was already the reigning flyweight champion. Following surgery after his bantamweight title victory, Cejudo relinquished the flyweight title.
Dominick Cruz has not competed since UFC 207 in December of 2016, when he lost the bantamweight title to Cody Garbrandt who dropped it to his bitter rival T.J. Dillashaw. During his effort to get back to the Octagon, Cruz had fights cancelled against Jimmie Rivera in 2017 and John Lineker in 2019, but now lines himself up with a title opportunity in his return.
Jose Aldo was set to face Cejudo after making a successful debut in the bantamweight division, defeating Marlon Moraes at UFC 245 this past December. The bantamweight division has no shortage of contenders for whoever the champion will be following UFC 250 as Aljamain Sterling, Petr Yan, Cory Sandhagen, and Moraes who was the last title challenger. The additions of Aldo and Cruz only make the division deeper and likely means there could be a mini-tournament between the top contenders to determine who would be next in line following UFC 250.
The replacement fill-in for Cruz is something that they both wanted, as Cejudo called for “The Dominator” to be a replacement if Aldo had to withdraw from the event, which is now reality.
