The 135-pound division will be highlighted Saturday at UFC 249.
Bantamweight champion [autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag] makes his first title defense when he takes on the promotion’s first bantamweight king, [autotag]Dominick Cruz[/autotag] at UFC 249.
In 2010, the WEC merged into the UFC and Cruz was crowned the inaugural bantamweight champion when he defeated Scott Jorgensen by unanimous decision. Cruz went on to defend his title twice against Urijah Faber and Demetrious Johnson.
At UFC 149 in July 2012, Renan Barao was crowned interim champion when he defeated Faber. After defending his interim title twice against Michael McDonald and Eddie Wineland, Barao was promoted to undisputed champion after Cruz was forced out of their title unification bout at UFC 169 in February 2014. Barao fought Faber and beat him again with a first-round stoppage.
At UFC 173 in May 2014, T.J. Dillashaw dethroned Barao in one of the biggest upsets in UFC history. Dillashaw defended his title twice, taking out Joe Soto and stopping Barao once again in their rematch.
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At UFC Fight Night 81, the returning Cruz edged out Dillashaw to reclaim his title. He closed his chapter with Faber and defeated him in their trilogy bout at UFC 199.
At UFC 207 in December 2016, Cruz lost his title to Cody Garbrandt in a decision.
At UFC 217 in November 2017, Garbrandt lost his title to Dillashaw, who stopped him in Round 2. Dillashaw got the best of Garbrandt in the rematch, scoring a first-round finish.
After failing to capture two titles simultaneously at UFC on ESPN+ 1 in January 2019, Dillashaw was stripped off his title after testing positive for EPO.
At UFC 238, Cejudo faced Marlon Moraes for the vacant belt and took him out in Round 3.
Follow the UFC bantamweight title’s journey from Cruz to Cejudo in the video above.
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