Former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber's bantamweight debut will have to wait, as an injury has forced "The California Kid" out of WEC 50.

Faber (23-4 MMA, 8-3 WEC) announced his withdrawal from the card on his Twitter account.

Faber was scheduled to face Takeya Mizugaki (13-4-2 MMA, 2-2 WEC) at the event, and MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has learned from sources close to the promotion that a replacement opponent will not be sought for the Japanese product.

Featuring a bantamweight title bout between current champ Dominick Cruz and top contender Joseph Benavidez, "WEC 50: Cruz vs. Benavidez" takes place Aug. 18 at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The main card airs live on Versus.

It's currently unknown which bout will be promoted to the evening's main card to replace the previously scheduled co-feature.

Faber, who was scheduled to fight for the first time as a 135-pounder, stated on his Twitter account that the injury happened on Monday.

Faber, who reigned as the WEC's 145-pound champ and emerged as the organization's biggest star during a 13-fight win streak from 2005 to 2008, since has gone 2-3 in his past five fights. He lost his belt to Mike Brown at WEC 36, dropped a rematch at WEC 41, and after getting another shot at the belt, suffered a decision loss to now-champ Jose Aldo at WEC 48 in April.

Mixed in with the losses were submissions wins over Jens Pulver and Raphael Assuncao.

Faber has yet to announce a timetable for his return.

Source: www.mmajunkie.com

Thats a real shame :/ I was looking forward to that fight.

Good that main event is awesome Cruz vs. Benavidez will kick ass!