Henry Cejudo has made the decision to withdraw from his upcoming bout in August.
In an announcement on Thursday, the former two-division UFC champion, Cejudo (16-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC), revealed that he will not be competing in his scheduled UFC 292 fight against Marlon Vera (22-8-1 MMA, 14-7 UFC). The event, which includes two title fights, is set to take place at TD Garden in Boston on August 19.
“Unfortunately due to my right shoulder, I won’t be able to fight,” Cejudo said in a video posted to Instagram. “Guys, I’ve already torn my left shoulder, where I was out for about a year. I don’t want it to tear further than what it already is. … There’s a tear in there guys. The cat’s out of the bag. It is actually a 50 percent tear.”
Cejudo says he’s looking at six to eight weeks of rehab, and will look to continue his quest towards reclaiming the bantamweight title. After recovering, “Triple C” says he’s eyeing a matchup against the No. 1 contender Merab Dvalishvili, or a potential fight against current flyweight champion Brandon Moreno, even though he said he really wanted the challenge of facing Vera.
Cejudo returned to action after a three-year retirement to fight Aljamain Sterling for the bantamweight crown at UFC 288, losing a split decision in the main event.
With the removal, the current UFC 292 lineup includes:
- Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley – for bantamweight title
- Zhang Weili vs. Amanda Lemos – for strawweight title
- Rob Font vs. Song Yadong
- Brad Tavares vs. Chris Weidman
- Mario Bautista vs. Cody Garbrandt
- Gerald Meerschaert vs. Andre Petroski
- Maryna Moroz vs. Karine Silva
- Ian Machado Garry vs. Geoff Neal
- Andrea Lee vs. Natalia Silva