May 19, 2012 – Last night on The Ultimate Fighter Live, UFC President Dana White made it official that Brazilian phenom Renan Barao (Nova Uniao) would be taking bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz’s place opposite fellow former champion Urijah Faber at UFC 148.
The Faber vs. Barao fight will now be for the UFC Interim Bantamweight Title since the current champ will be out for an extended period of time after suffering a severe knee injury while training for his planned bout against his fellow TUF coach.
The challenger Barao will head into this bout having compiled an impressive 26-1 record with 1 no-contest in MMA. That record makes him good enough to be the owner of the longest unbeaten streak in mixed martial arts (27 fights without a loss). He’s earned this shot at the pinnacle of the 135 lbs. division after having beaten Cole Escovedo, Brad Pickett and Scott Jorgensen in his last three bouts.
The 25-year-old Barao commented on the bout, saying “I’m very surprised to be the No.1 contender to now fight Urijah Faber but I’m so very excited to fight for the title and replace Dominick Cruz. I’m very confident. I have been training a long time for this chance and I will be ready to go out there and put on a good show.”
Elsewhere on episode 11 of The Ultimate Fighter, favorites Vinc Pichel and Al Iaquinta move on to join James Vick and Michael Chiesa in the semi-finals after beating Chris Saunders and Andy Ogle respectively.
James Vick (#5 Cruz) will now face-off against Michael Chiesa (#5 Faber) while Pichel (#6 Cruz) will meet Al Iaquinta (#1 Faber) for a right to land in this season’s Ultimate Fighter Finale.