After Henry Cejudo beat Marlon Moraes at UFC 238 to become the bantamweight champion he called out a bevy of names including Urijah Faber. Then, at UFC Sacramento, “The California Kid” knocked out Ricky Simon in 46 seconds and returned the favor by calling out Cejudo.
Since the callouts, many are interested in seeing that fight and even the UFC Hall of Famer said the chances of the fight happening next are very good. According to Cejudo’s manager in Ali Abdelaziz, however, he doesn’t believe Urijah Faber deserves it and instead should fight Marlon Moraes for the chance to fight the champ-champ.
“Urijah you know he got an impressive win last week. But, we never really got to see Urijah. He is 40-years-old and is coming back,” Abdelaziz said to TMZ Sports. “This is a young man’s game but you can’t deny him. The guy has been around for a long time. But, if he really wants to fight Henry Cejudo, I have a proposal for him. If you want Henry Cejudo, you can’t be the number 15 guy and fight Henry. There are a lot of guys in line. You got Aljamain Sterling in line, Petr Yan in line, but the guy above them is Marlon Moraes. He has a number ahead of him, number one. Marlon Moraes is number one.
“I manage Marlon Moraes. If Urijah Faber would like to get a shot at Henry, he should fight Marlon. If he beats Marlon he guarantees himself a title shot, if he beats Marlon he would become number one, as it makes no sense having number 14 fight the champ. You have to earn your way up. Listen, if Urijah beats Marlon, he deserves it,” the manager continued. “Marlon is one of the best guys still in the division, he probably comes back and fights for a title soon. And I don’t know if this is really good for Urijah to fight Marlon but it is up to him. Marlon called him out, not disrespectful, everybody gives Urijah respect, he has paid his dues. But, as Henry said, he is always has been number two and now has a chance to fight number one and number one is Marlon.”
If Urijah Faber vs. Marlon Moraes happens and “The California Kid” wins, it would no doubt set up a title fight. But, whether or not Faber has any interest in that fight is unknown.
Do you agree with Ali Abdelaziz’s proposal for Urijah Faber to get title shot against Henry Cejudo? Sound off in the comment section, PENN Nation!
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 7/17/2019.