Cerrone was scheduled to fight Joe Lauzon at UFC 274, but that was canceled due to an illness.
Donald Cerrone was forced to withdraw from his fight against Joe Lauzon at UFC 274 this past Saturday. It was not an easy decision for ‘Cowboy,’ who has never withdrawn before in his professional career, but it was the right one given the unfortunate circumstances.
Cerrone contracted food poisoning after ‘eating tacos’ at a local restaurant in Phoenix and was throwing up hours before the pay-per-view event. He exhausted every option offered to him but could not recover in time and was subsequently removed from his fight with Lauzon.
“My heart is broken and torn,” said Cerrone on Instagram. “I cannot believe I had to make that call. If you know me, you know I only pulled out because I had to. Thank you for the UFC and the medical division for helping me as far as we could to try and make that buzzer, but we just couldn’t get it.”
UFC president Dana White said during his post-fight press conference that the promotion could try to reschedule Cerrone vs. Lauzon in the near future. Should that happen, Cerrone revealed it would be one of the final fights of his career.
The 39-year-old has officially set his sights on retiring after 50 fights. Since beginning his career over 16 years ago, Cerrone amassed an overall record of 36-16-2 and became a fan favorite for his exciting style that has broken several records under the Zuffa banner, which includes the second most finishes (16) and third most bouts (37) in UFC history.
“I have 48 fights under Zuffa,” said Cerrone. “I’m saddened that I couldn’t have my 49th and put on a show for you all. My number is 50, gentlemen. I’ll retire when I get 50. So I got two more fights left in the UFC. So thank you Dana White, thank you Joe Lauzon. Thanks for understanding and not taking that fight with an ill, sick Cowboy. You didn’t want to fight that guy. You want a strong, healthy, bad mother—ker, so we’ll meet again.
“Like I said, Cowboy’s got two more fights left under Zuffa,” continued Cerrone. “I want 50 fights and then I’m bowing out. I’m out of here, boys. So I’ll be back stronger than ever, ready to take on the world. Let’s go.”
Cerrone hoped to snap a six-fight winless streak, but will have to wait for that opportunity. The lightweight and welterweight staple has suffered technical knockout losses to Tony Ferguson, Justin Gaethje, Conor McGregor and Alex Morono in four of his past six appearances.