Following Urijah Faber’s big win over Ricky Simon at UFC Sacramento, he called for a title shot against Henry Cejudo. After all, Cejudo called him out following his UFC 238.
Yet, many fans and fighters alike didn’t think “The California Kid” deserved the title shot. So, too does Ali Abdelaziz, who is Cejudo’s manager. He believes Faber needs another win and has a proposal for him on how to get a title shot.
“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 (as transcribed by BJPENN). “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.”
Although Faber has said he wants Cejudo, fighting Moraes does make sense. Should he win that, there is no question “The California Kid” deserves the next title shot against Cejudo.
