Former UFC bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo suffered a shoulder injury and will be forced to undergo surgery, ruling him ineligible to compete against No. 6-ranked division contender Marlon Vera on the upcoming UFC 292 pay-per-view (PPV) main card on Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston.
“Well … f*ck,” Vera said in a video posted to Twitter.
Vera subsequently called for ex-bantamweight champion Petr Yan to “step up” and compete at UFC 292, but “No Mercy” did not address the callout. Yan (16-5) is coming off a decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili in the UFC Las Vegas headliner last March.
As for Vera (20-8-1), his four-fight win streak went up in smoke after a decision loss to fellow contender Cory Sandhagen, who is currently booked to throw down with undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC Nashville in August.
No word yet on when fans can expect Cejudo to make his Octagon return but the 135-pound title chase is still anyone’s game, especially with current champion Aljamain Sterling expected to move to featherweight after battling Sean O’Malley in “Beantown.”
For the revised UFC 292 fight card and PPV lineup click here.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania