Renan Barao has stepped in for Dominick Cruz to face Urijah Faber for the UFC Interim Bantamweight Championship of the World at UFC 148 in Las Vegas on July 7th (by default the 4th of July weekend). Cruz suffered a knee injury in training and was forced out of his title defense. He is expected to miss up to nine months. Faber, 3-1 since dropping to bantamweight, lost via unanimous decision to Cruz in July, but rebounded with a submission win over Brian Bowles in November. His new opponent, Barao, is 28-1-1 in MMA and riding an 18-fight winning streak. He is 3-0 since coming to the UFC and has defeated top bantamweights Chris Cariaso, Brad Pickett, and Scott Jorgensen. The 25-year old trains with Nova Uniao alongside Jose Aldo, Marlon Sandro, and Diego Nunes.
Michael "Mayday" McDonald was also in the running for this fight but a training injury forced him out of the picture.
