Jose Aldo out of UFC 250; Dominick Cruz steps in against Henry Cejudo

Jose Aldo is no longer in the picture for the UFC 250 Bantamweight title fight, and the Brazilian is being replaced by former two-time Champion Dominick Cruz.

The news was tweeted out by 'The Dominator' himself, and later reported by Combate.

Cejudo and Cruz exchange tweets about their fight

Aldo was supposed to fight Cejudo for the Bantamweight belt in Sao Paolo, Brazil on May 9, but the coronavirus pandemic has made international travel impossible across several countries, USA being one of them.

According to the report by Combate, Aldo's work visa for USA had expired, and the American Embassy is neither issuing new documents amidst the crisis, nor allowing foreign individuals to enter rampantly. This situation led to Aldo's withdrawal from the fight.

But it came as a boon to Cruz, whose last appearance in the Octagon was in a title losing bout against Cody Garbrandt at UFC 207 more than three years ago in December 2016.

Surprising as the news was, Cruz is clearly ready for the fight and has already sent out threats to the Champ over Twitter.

Dear @HenryCejudo, The real king has already been told that we’re fighting May 9th. I’ll see you there.P.S. -Bring your other tiny lil friend @cptdasamericas so I can slap you both around. 👋 👋 -Signed, Sealed, Delivered-
— Dominick Cruz (@DominickCruz) April 9, 2020

Expand Tweet

'Triple C' wasted no time to retaliate, in his true cringe king style.

Keep begging me!💋🥇🥇🥇 https://t.co/YKfV5iXKuG
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) April 9, 2020

Expand Tweet

Cejudo had earlier called Cruz out for the title fight in case Aldo could not be available for it due to the pandemic. It seems like his wishes have come true after all.

The match-up is reportedly only a verbal agreement so far. It has not been officially announced yet by UFC.