Diego Sanchez out of fight against Donald Cerrone, replacement being sought out
Diego Sanchez is reportedly out of his upcoming fight against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone next month according to a report from MMA Fighting. The fight between the former teammates was set to take place on May 8, and while Sanchez is out, a replacement is being sought out for Cerrone who is expected to remain on the card.
In what was likely to be the retirement fight for Diego Sanchez, the former Ultimate Fighter: Season 1 middleweight tournament winner was set to face his former JacksonWink teammate, and the build-up picked up recent intensity as Cerrone recently took aim at Sanchez. As the fight was drawing closer, Cerrone said that the rivalry between the two has heat not for anything recent, but for what Sanchez said when he left JacksonWink and that he was going to make Sanchez “eat his words” in their fight.
While the fight will not take place between the two, it’ll be interesting to see if the UFC tries to re-book the fight given the added heat around Donald Cerrone and Sanchez. Two of the most respected veterans in the sport, neither Cerrone or Sanchez have had a great run in their recent fights, as “Cowboy” has gone 1-4 and a no-contest in his last six fights, while Sanchez has gone 1-2 in his last three.
The UFC on ESPN 24 event suffered a loss to their main event this week also as former champion TJ Dillashaw was forced to withdraw from his return fight against Cory Sandhagen, although he said he hopes the fight is rescheduled as soon as possible.
Here is the current lineup for next weekend’s UFC on ESPN 24 event, which could see Michelle Waterson vs Marina Rodriguez as the main event, and Donald Cerrone awaiting a new opponent.
- Michelle Waterson vs Marina Rodriguez
- Donald Cerrone vs TBD
- Ben Rothwell vs Philipe Lins
- Amanda Ribas vs Angela Hill
- Neil Magny vs Geoff Neal
- Diego Ferreira vs Gregor Gillespie
- Phil Hawes vs Kyle Daukaus
- Ryan Benoit vs Zarrukh Adashev
- Maurice Greene vs Marcos Rogerio de Lima
- Christian Aguilera vs Carlston Harris
- Tafon Nchukwi vs Jun Yong Park
- Mike Trizano vs L’udovit Klein
