Cerrone and Lauzon were set to open to pay-per-view portion of UFC 274.
We have some unfortunate news for those excited to see Donald Cerrone and Joe Lauzon at UFC 274 tonight.
Jon Anik announced during the broadcast that Cerrone has been forced out of his highly anticipated fight with Lauzon because of a non-COVID-19 related illness. Cerrone vs. Lauzon was supposed to serve as the opener of the pay-per-view portion of the event, but that has now changed. The featured preliminary fight between Randy Brown and Khaos Williams was tapped as the replacement.
“What an amazing matchup that was too, by the way,” said longtime color commentator Joe Rogan in response to the update. “Joe Lauzon, Donald Cerrone, loser leaves town. I mean, that’s really what it was. Unfortunately, they think what might have happened is Donald ate something bad because he was throwing up. He couldn’t keep food down. He felt terrible and they tried to give him time to recover, but I talked to Dr. [Jeff] Davidson and it was just not going to happen.”
It is unknown if Cerrone vs. Lauzon will remain intact and shifted once again. The lightweight legends were originally scheduled to fight at an upcoming UFC Fight Night, but convinced the UFC brass to move them to an event that would be in front of an audience.
Cerrone was hoping to snap a six-fight winless streak, which included technical knockout defeats to Tony Ferguson, Justin Gaethje and Conor McGregor in some of his recent appearances. Meanwhile, Lauzon snapped a three-fight losing streak with a stunning first-round knockout of Jonathan Pearce at UFC on ESPN 6 over two years ago.
UFC 274 moves forward with 14 confirmed fights. Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje meet in the main event for lightweight gold, while Rose Namajunas and Carla Esparza share the Octagon again for the strawweight championship.