An anticipated welterweight contest between Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and former champion Robbie Lawler was removed from this weekend’s UFC 213 but the good news for fight fans is it’s still expected to take place in July.
UFC president Dana White told Lance Pugmire of the LA Times the bout is being moved to the stacked UFC 214 card. This comes after White initially threw cold water on reports the fight would be shifted to the July 29 event.
Cerrone was dealing with various injuries and a staph infection, according to White, which is why the fight was removed from UFC 213.
“Here’s the deal. ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone is a stud. He’s too tough for his own good,” White told MMAJunkie last week. “He absolutely wanted to fight…Could he come out and fight? Probably. Should he come out and fight Robbie Lawler with a pulled groin? No, he shouldn’t. We’re going to get him healthy and remake the fight.”
Cerrone described his ailment as being “a super bad infection in my blood.” He added that he would get back to training after seven days of IV treatment.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BV5dD-vB9_N/?taken-by=cowboycerrone
Both fan favourites are coming off knockout losses that ended lengthy winning streaks. Lawler (27–11, 1 NC) was stopped by Tyron Woodley and lost his welterweight belt at UFC 201 in July 2016. He had won five straight prior to suffering his first KO loss in 12 years. Meanwhile, Cerrone (32-8, 1 NC) had a four-fight winning streak snapped in January by Jorge Masvidal.
This is how UFC 214 is shaping up:
— Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones (for light-heavyweight title)
— Tyron Woodley vs. Demian Maia (for welterweight title)
— Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino vs. Tonya Evinger (for vacant women’s featherweight title)
— Robbie Lawler vs. Donald Cerrone
— Aljamain Sterling vs. Renan Barao
— Jimi Manuwa vs. Volkan Oezdemir
— Ricardo Lamas vs. Jason Knight
— Sage Northcutt vs. John Makdessi
— Kailin Curran vs. Alexandra Albu
— Josh Burkman vs. Drew Dober
— Dimitri Smoliakov vs. Adam Wieczorek
— Eric Shelton vs. Jarred Brooks
— Brian Ortega vs. Renato Moicano
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