Cerrone injured, Lawler fight delayed
Donald Cerrone suffered a staph infection and a much-anticipated fight with Robbie Lawler at UFC 213 will be delayed.
Luke Thomas for MMA Fighting reports that Donald Cerrone is injured and a much-anticipated fight with Robbie Lawler at UFC 213 will be delayed. Cerrone revealed the cause was a blood infection; it almost certainly means Cowboy will not be able to fight on July 8.
“Let everyone know this is not an injury,” wrote Cerrone. “But a super bad infection in my blood. 7 days of IV and I’ll be back at it. Working on getting the fight rescheduled.”
UFC president Dana White said the fight would not be rescheduled to UFC 214.
H‘Cowboy’ Cerrone is a stud. He’s too tough for his own good, said White to Simon Samano and John Morgan for MMAjunkie. He absolutely wanted to fight. The kid’s got a pulled groin; he’s got a bruise from his knee to the inside of his groin. And his other knee is blowing up; he’s got staph infection.
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.
The UFC boss was asked if the fight would be rescheduled to UFC 214 on July 29 in Anaheim, California, as was widely reported.
No, it won’t be on Anaheim, said White.
This is the second delay thus far for the fight. It was originally planned for UFC 205 in November of 2016, but Lawler said he needed further time to recover. Lawler is 35, and has been through a number of brutal fights. He fought three times in 2013, winning all; the third was a brutal split decision over Rory MacDonald. Lawler fought four times in 2014, losing for the title to Johny Hendricks in March, and closing the year by defeating Hendricks and winning the title.
In Lawler’s first title defense, Ruthless stopped MacDonald in the fifth. It was an extraordinarily thrilling fight to watch. But it if you know fighting, it was a life-shortening event. Wisely, that was Lawler’s only fight in 2015. He defending the belt successfully vs. Carlos Condit in January of 2016, winning the fight of the night via Split Decision. Then on July 30, 2016, Robbie Lawler got knocked out by Tyron Woodley in the first. He has been resting his brain since. Now he gets a little more rest still; that’s not a bad thing.
Cerrone is the busiest fighter in the league, with four fights every year from 2013 to 2016. UFC president Dana White mandated a little time off late in 2016, and Cerrone came back stopping Matt Brown with a head kick KO in the third. In his latest fight, just six weeks after beating Brown, Cowboy lost to Jorge Masvidal via TKO early in the second.
Whenever the fight is rescheduled, let’s hope the third time’s a charm.
