Filed under: UFC
Donald Cerrone‘s 2011 will continue to stay busy. “Cowboy” will step in for an injured John Makdessi to fight Paul Taylor at UFC on Versus 5 in August in Milwaukee.
The UFC announced Monday night that Makdessi had pulled out of the fight with Taylor, of England, due to an injury. And Cerrone, already 2-0 this year and fresh off a unanimous decision win over Vagner Rocha at UFC 131 just over two weeks ago, will step in.
The fight could prove to be a standup battle – both fighters are renowned kickboxers. But Cerrone has 80 percent of his career victories by submission.
Cerrone (15-3, 1 NC, 2-0 UFC), one of the WEC’s standout and most popular fighters before the merger with the UFC, went 6-3 with one no contest as a lightweight in that promotion. His three losses all came with the WEC lightweight title on the line – once in a controversial split decision loss to Jamie Varner, and twice to Ben Henderson.
Cerrone, a Greg Jackson-trained fighter, won five Fight of the Night bonuses in the WEC and started his UFC career with a submission win over Paul Kelly that also won a Fight of the Night award at UFC 126 in February. That win gave Cerrone four straight.
Taylor (11-6-1, 1 NC, 4-5 UFC) is coming off a head kick knockout of Gabe Ruediger at UFC 126, which snapped a two-fight skid that saw him drop decisions to Sam Stout and John Hathaway.
Taylor has been with the UFC since UFC 70 in April 2007, a win over Edilberto de Oliveira. After that TKO victory, Taylor won Fight of the Night bonuses in three of his next four fights – though all three of those came in losses to renowned bonus hounds Chris Lytle and Marcus Davis, and one to fellow Englishman Paul Kelly.
UFC on Versus 5 will be the promotion’s debut in Wisconsin after MMA sanctioning was passed there recently. The show will take place at the Bradley Center, home to the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
The card will feature a main event between Lytle and former welterweight title challenger Dan Hardy, who has lost three straight. The show also will feature a lightweight bout between Jim Miller and Henderson – with Miller looking for his eighth straight victory and a likely title shot if he gets past the former WEC lightweight champ.