An intriguing Lightweight showdown between Donald Cerrone and Al Iaquinta is being targeted to headline Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on May 4, 2019.
That’s according to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, who reported that both combatants have verbally agreed to the fight, all that’s left to do is get the particulars out of the way and put pen to paper.
Cerrone is coming off a spectacular performance at UFC on ESPN+ 1 this past January, knocking out the highly-touted prospect Alexander Hernandez in only two rounds in his return to 155 pounds (highlights), handing Alex his first loss in nearly six years. The win was “Cowboy’s” second straight, as he had submitted Mike Perry prior in Welterweight action (see it).
As for Iaquinta, he is fresh off a dominant five-round performance over Kevin lee, defeating “The Motown Phenom” for a second time at UFC on FOX 31 last December. Prior to that, “Ragin’ Al” came up short in his bid to win UFC gold after losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223. That fight, however, was given to Iaquinta on just a day’s notice.
Now, both men will look to get into the very crowded and cloudy championship title picture at 155 pounds when they collide in just a few short months.
“Cowboy” was close to locking down a fight agaisnt Conor McGregor, but after talks stalled due to this, the promotion opted to take another route. Meanwhile, “Notorious” recently revealed he’d like to return to action in July, so if the winner of Cerrone vs Iaquinta escapes the fight unscathed, they could earn themselves a crack at McGregor down the road.
That said, what’s your prediction?