Breaking: Dominick Cruz Out Of UFC 219 Bout With Jimmie Rivera

The hits just won’t stop coming tonight (Wed., November 8, 2017). Hours after Frankie Edgar was forced out of his UFC 218 title bout, former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz has reportedly been forced out of his latest bout.

Cruz was set to take on rising No. 3 contender Jimmie Rivera at December 30’s UFC 219 from Las Vegas, but apparently, that’s not going to go forward as planned.

Ariel Helwani just tweeted the fight had been called due to Cruz breaking his arm:

Dominick Cruz is out of the UFC 219 fight vs. Jimmie Rivera, sources say. Broken arm. TBD at this time what they’ll do with Rivera.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 9, 2017

It’s a huge blow to a card that is still lacking a blockbuster main event for the UFC’s traditional New Year’s Eve card.

Cruz has been out of action since losing the title to Cody Garbrandt at last December’s UFC 207. Before that, he returned from a long battle with knee injuries to steal the championship from current champion TJ Dillashaw before defending the belt against longtime rival Urijah Faber.

Rivera, meanwhile, has won all five of his UFC bouts so far, with his most recent a decision win over Thomas Almeida at July’s UFC on FOX 25.

It is unknown if “El Terror” will remain on UFC 219 at this point.