Urijah Faber gets Interim Title bout at UFC 148, Dominick Cruz to stay on as "Ultimate Fighter:Live" coach

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Appearing on UFC Tonight on Fuel TV on Tuesday, UFC President Dana White cleared up some of the questions left in the wake of Monday's news that Dominick Cruz had suffered a serious knee injury, taking him out of his UFC 148 title bout with Urijah Faber.

First up, White confirmed that Faber will indeed remain on the UFC 148 card, and he'll fight for an Interim Bantamweight Championship. However, White revealed that no opponent has yet been determined as they try to determine the best name for that fight.

Next up was the question of whether or not Cruz would be kept on as coach for the remainder of The Ultimate Fighter. Two of the fighters on his team said during a conference call on Tuesday that they hoped he would stay on, and that is indeed the route the UFC will take. So Cruz will continue coaching his team as the final month of "TUF: Live" plays out on FX, then will likely head home to work on recovering from his knee injury.

Penick's Analysis: With Renan Barao already on the UFC 148 card, it makes the most sense to move him up to face Faber. That said, because Michael McDonald just knocked out former Champion Miguel Torres, the UFC may be inclined to bring him in for the shot, and that internal debate is likely playing out right now as they attempt to figure out which way they're going to go with that fight.

[Urijah Faber art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_13237.shtml

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