With Dominick Cruz forced out of his scheduled title bout with Urijah Faber the UFC scrambled for a suitable replacement with the intentions of keeping fan favorite Urijah Faber on the UFC 148 card.

Last Friday the promotion announced that Renan Barao was not only suitable to fill the vacancy, but that the two will also scrap it out for an interim title while Cruz is on the shelf and unable to defend his title.

This sudden shift in opponents left Barao’s original opponent, Ivan Menjivar, in limbo and without an opponent for his scheduled UFC 148 appearance.

In the place of Barao comes the fast rising Mike Easton.

FoxSports.com broke the story:

[box_light]“Easton is one of the bantamweight division’s rising contenders who’s now going after the biggest win of his career, but he has to get past the incredibly dynamic and much more experienced Menjivar,” UFC president Dana White said. “Both fighters have verbally agreed to the bout.”[/box_light]

Easton is 2-0 since signing with the UFC following a two-year absence from professional competition.

UFC 148 is set to take place from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on July 7. It features many notable fighters; however the main event is a long-awaited grudge match between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen for the UFC’s middleweight title.

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