It seems like the highly anticipated combat between two of MMA’s most exciting fighters will take place after all.
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and former welterweight champion Robbie “Ruthless” Lawler will face each other on July 29 at UFC 214 in Anaheim, California. Their combat at UFC 213 was postponed because Cerrone suffered an undisclosed infection, but as expected the combat was rescheduled to UFC 214.
Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting confirmed the information following an initial report by Lance Pugmire of the LA Times. The announcement fortunately contradicts what was said by UFC’s own Dana White last week.
This fight was originally planned for UFC 205 but was canceled because Lawler (27-11, 1 NC) felt he needed more time to recover from his loss to Tyron Woodley at UFC 201 in July 2016.
Prior to this, “Ruthless” had a five-fight winning streak. Lawler loss to Johny Hendricks in March 2014 in a fight for the then vacant welterweight title, but bounced back with wins over Jake Ellenberger and Matt Brown. The he beat Hendricks in the rematch to capture the belt at UFC 181.
This was followed by two successful title defenses against Rory MacDonald at UFC 189 and Carlos Condit at UFC 195.
Cerrone (32-8, 1 NC) lost a streak of four victories when he was knocked out by Jorge Masvidal in January. Prior to that the “Cowboy,” a former lightweight contender, seemed to have made the right decision when he moved up to the welterweight division.
In 2016 he defeated Alex Oliveira, Patrick Cote, Rick Story and Matt Brown, but he started 2017 on the wrong foot by losing to Masvidal and now looks forward to redeem himself with a win in this combat against Lawler.
Cerrone, 34, is currently the number 7 ranked welterweight on the UFC’s media-generated rankings; while Lawler, 35, is still ranked number 3.
UFC 214 will take place at the Honda Center, home of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks.
