Just when the Diego Sanchez vs. Donald Cerrone fight was starting to build up some heat, the whole thing has turned into vapor.
Multiple outlets have confirmed that Sanchez is out of the May 8th bout at UFC Vegas 26 for undisclosed reasons, and a replacement fight for the card is in the works for “Cowboy” Cerrone.
This is the second big hit this UFC Vegas 26 card on ESPN has taken — the original main event between Corey Sandhagen and TJ Dillashaw was cancelled yesterday due to a training cut suffered by Dillashaw.
This latest knock comes as quite a shock as Sanchez was posting about preparations for the fight a mere few hours before news broke that the plug was being pulled on the fight. But I’m sure we’re all aware many fighters have social media managers and scheduled posts, so this post of Diego training with Dustin Poirier is just more disappointment to the loss of the Sanchez vs. Cerrone fight.
The bout was being positioned as a retirement bout for Diego, who has been fighting since 2002 in MMA and 2005 in the UFC. He vowed to beat Cerrone so bad “Cowboy” would retire too. That bit of bluster didn’t seem to bother Cerrone, but some poor behavior from when Donald split with the Jackson Wink gym had him motivated.
“It’s the things he said when I left Jackson’s, those are the things that piss me off,” Cerrone said in a recent training video. “Like, he went to these restaurants and these places we had pictures signed and he ripped em all off and videoed it and made a big deal.
“So yeah, he did a bunch of under the belt things, said a bunch of bulls*** so it’s like, alright motherf***er, now you’ve got to eat your words. I’ll see you May 8 and I’ll beat the f*** out of you.”
Alas, “Cowboy’s” nickname appropriate plan to beat Sanchez’s ass “and drag you behind my horse” will have to be put off. We’ll let you know when the UFC has a new opponent lined up for Cerrone, who is looking to break a 0-4-1 skid.