Urijah Faber vs. Dominick Cruz II for UFC Bantamweight Championship booked for UFC 132 in July

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz may be making his UFC debut in a pay-per-view main event, as the UFC today announced that Urijah Faber and Cruz will meet for the second time at UFC 132 in July.

Faber defeated Cruz in the WEC in March of 2007 in a bout for Faber's WEC Featherweight Championship. Now, with Faber defeating Eddie Wineland at last week's UFC 128 event, the two will meet again, this time for Cruz's belt.

Cruz hasn't lost a fight since the first round submission loss to Faber back at WEC 26. That loss is the only mark on the 25-year-old's record, and he's won eight straight over the last four years. After capturing the title from Brian Bowles in 2010, Cruz defended it against Joseph Benavidez in August and then defeated Scotty Jorgensen on the final WEC event to defend the belt a second time and become the first ever UFC Bantamweight Champion.

Faber has won two straight fights since dropping down to the bantamweight division. After a loss to Jose Aldo last April, Faber decided to make the drop from featherweight, and kicked off his 135 lb. campaign with a highly impressive first round submission over Takeya Mizugaki. His subsequent victory over Wineland last week has earned him this title shot.

UFC 132 takes place from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on July 2, and is also expected to feature a welterweight rematch between B.J. Penn and Jon Fitch.

Penick's Analysis: If the UFC doesn't add another title fight to this card to headline I might be surprised, as Cruz has never fought in the UFC and the card would be sold on Faber and the Penn-Fitch rematch in the co-main. There's not necessarily anything wrong with that, but though this will be a really good card I think the UFC may have a tough time selling it to a championship fight level. That said, it's a huge opportunity for Cruz and Faber to get a shot at main-eventing a UFC pay-per-view, and this fight should be excellent.

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