Assuming Austin Tex-Mex is kinder and gentler to Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone’s stomach than Phoenix tacos (or whatever), the Edgewood MMA fighter will be back in the Octagon on June 18.
As first reported by mmafighting.com, Cerrone’s lightweight (155-pound) fight against fellow UFC veteran Joe Lauzon, canceled on Saturday after Cerrone became ill, has been rescheduled for June in Austin, Texas.
The UFC has made no announcement, but Cerrone appeared to confirm the news Tuesday on Instagram.
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone is shown in the ring before fighting Conor McGregor in a UFC 246 welterweight mixed martial arts bout Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (AP Photo/John Locher)“Just got off the phone with (Lauzon) and we are rebooking Fight!” Cerrone wrote “Thank you @ufc and all the Fans see ya in a few weeks.”
Cerrone (36-16-2) and Lauzon (28-15) were to have faced each other in Phoenix on Saturday in what would have been Cerrone’s 49th fight under the banner of Zuffa, UFC’s parent company.
“Cowboy” however, became so violently ill after a post-weigh-in meal – UFC President Dana White said tacos were the culprit – that he couldn’t recover in time for Saturday’s card.
Cerrone, who hadn’t fought in the Octagon in almost exactly a year, was devastated.
“My heart is broken and torn,” he said in an Instagram video. “I cannot believe I had to make that call. If you know me, you know I only pulled out because I had to.
“Thank you to the UFC and the medical division for helping me as far as we could, trying to make that buzzer, but we just couldn’t get it.”
The rescheduling of the fight would draw Cerrone, 39, oh, so close to his goal: 50 fights with Zuffa.
“My number is 50, gentlemen,” he said. “I’ll retire when I get 50.
“I want 50 fights, then I’m bowing out. I’m out of here, boys. So I’ll be back stronger than ever, ready to take on the world. Let’s go.”
MEANS-CERRONE, ANYONE? Assuming Cerrone’s digestive tract permits, he’ll be joining fellow New Mexico fighter Tim Means in Austin on June 18.
Means (32-12-1), of Moriarty, is matched against Kevin Holland (22-7) in a welterweight (170-pound) fight.
Some six years ago, Means and Cerrone were scheduled to fight each other on a UFC card in Pittsburgh.
But Means failed a drug test and was suspended, though it was accepted that the positive test was an unintentional result of having ingested a tainted supplement.
The two New Mexicans aren’t currently fighting in the same weight class, but Cerrone has fought at 170 pounds several times in the past.
With Means and Cerrone on the same schedule – fighting on the same card in June – a late 2022 showdown between the two for Cerrone’s 50th seems like an idea whose time should come.
