UFC plans to book fight for vacant bantamweight title as soon as next Tuesday

Following his UFC 249 win over former two-time champion Dominick Cruz on Saturday, bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo announced his retirement before exiting the Octagon at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

“I’m happy with my career. I’ve done enough in the sport. I want to walk away. I want to enjoy myself. I’m 33 years old,” said Cejudo. “Since I was 11 years old, I’ve sacrificed my whole life to get to where I”m at today. I’m not going to let nobody take that from me, so I’m retiring tonight.”

Cejudo’s sudden departure from the sport leaves the bantamweight division with a vacant title and the UFC plans have a deal signed as soon as next Tuesday to crown a new champion.  UFC president Dana White revealed one of the two fighters that will compete for the vacant championship during the UFC 249 post-fight press conference.   

“It’s Petr Yan and somebody. We’ll get the figured out. We’ll make a title fight next week for the vacant title and probably do that fight as soon as possible.”

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Yan (14-1) is ranked third in the 135-pound division.  He’s riding a nine-fight winning streak and hasn’t lost since March 2016.  With half of the matchup for the vacant title in mind, the fight promotion will contact Cejudo before booking a bout. 

“You let that guy (Cejudo) take a week, go home, or whatever he’s going to do and think about it. Then when we get home and back to work on Monday, we’ll call Henry and say, ‘is this what you really want to do?’ If the answer is yes then matchmaking meeting is Tuesday. We’ll have another fight on Tuesday,” said White.