We knew it would be and so it has come to pass.
With his victory at UFC 128 over Eddie Wineland in his Octagon debut, Urijah Faber has earned a shot at the bantamweight title and his arch nemesis, Dominick Cruz. The date? July 2. The location? Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event? UFC 132.
The promotion officially announced the contest earlier today.
Faber has been working at a 135-pound title shot since he made the decision to drop down from the featherweight division following a couple of title losses to Mike Brown and Jose Aldo respectively.
So far, he's seen nothing but success, winning both fights in his new weight class: a submission victory over Takeya Mizugaki and a decision win over the previously mentioned Wineland.
Now it's time to see if "The California Kid" can go get that belt.
To do so, he'll have to defeat Dominick Cruz, a fighter who's done nothing but "Dominate" since he started his young career back in Jan., 2005.
"El Grinder-O" has been on a stellar run, winning 17 of his 18 career contests. The lone blemish? To none other than Faber himself, a featherweight title fight in the WEC back in 2007.
Cruz was choked out via guillotine in the first round of that bout, but made his debut at 135-pounds just one fight later and hasn't lost since, defeating the likes of Joseph Benavidez, Brian Bowles and most recently, Scott Jorgensen.
These two have had a grudge building in the media for a while now, with Faber calling Cruz a "d-bag" and Dominick repeatedly stating he would love to avenge his only career loss.
Let the games begin, gentlemen.
UFC 132 is official for Las Vegas on July 2 with Faber vs. Cruz serving as the featured fight of the evening. B.J. Penn is still slated to fight at the event but his original opponent, Jon Fitch, suffered an injury and no replacement has been named at this time.
Tito Ortiz will make his return to action against Ryan Bader in a light heavyweight contest, while the rest of the card will feature match-ups pitting Melvin Guillard against Shane Roller, George Sotiropoulos vs. Evan Dunham and Dennis Siver vs. Matt Wiman.
As always, keep it locked right here to MMAmania.com for more updates to this still-developing fight card.
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