UFC president Dana White will be working on the bantamweight title picture in short order.
Last night (May 9), Henry Cejudo successfully defended the UFC bantamweight title against Dominick Cruz. Cejudo dropped Cruz with a knee to the jaw and followed it up with ground-and-pound for the TKO finish. During his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Cejudo announced his retirement.
Dana White Working On UFC Bantamweight Title Picture
Speaking to reporters during the UFC 249 post-fight press conference, White said Cejudo’s retirement isn’t surprising to him (h/t MMAJunkie.com).
“He’s been talking about retirement to us for the past several months,” White he told reporters backstage at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. “I didn’t know he was going to do it tonight, but I knew he’s been talking about it. And you know my opinion on that. If you start talking about retirement in this business, it’s probably a good idea. Although, I think he’s one of the best in the world – he looked incredible.”
White went on to say that if Cejudo is serious about retiring, then the UFC will look at booking Petr Yan against another top-ranked 135-pounder for the vacant gold.
“It’s Petr Yan and somebody,” said, White. “We’ll get that figured out, too. We’ll make a title fight next week for the vacant title and probably do that fight as soon as possible.”
Yan is coming off a brutal finish over Urijah Faber. He was scheduled to fight Marlon Moraes at UFC Kazakhstan but that event has been postponed. Whether or not the UFC will try to rebook that fight for the vacant bantamweight title remains to be seen.
Another fighter who could make a case for a bantamweight title shot is Aljamain Sterling. He is riding a four-fight winning streak and is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Pedro Munhoz.
