An injury to Eddie Alvarez has forced him out of his co-main event fight with Ben Henderson at UFC Fight Night 59 in Boston.
While that’s very disappointing news the UFC have pulled a rabbit out of their hats by bringing in Donald Cerrone to fight Henderson instead.
This is something of a surprise given that Cerrone only just went three full rounds with Myles Jury this past weekend in Las Vegas. Dpesite winning, ‘Cowboy’ had been unhappy with the fact the fight hadn’t been entertaining for fans and vowed to get back in the Octagon ASAP.
Taking a fight with an opponent of Henderson’s caliber on just two weeks later seems like a risky move though, especially since he’s currently homing in on a title shot after a six fight winning streak.
Cerrone is a clearly a man who likes to live in the moment though, and often by the seat of his pants as proven by the fact he went for thrill rides on a snowmobile, stunt plane and race car in the days leading up to his fight at UFC 182.
Cerrone already has a rich history with Henderson who he’s already fought twice before in the WEC promotion. Their first encounter, for the WEC interim lightweight title, was an instant classic that earned ‘Fight Of The Year’ honors in 2009 with Henderson having to survive a number of very deep submission attempts from Cerrone while grappling him on the mat to earn a decision victory.
Just six months later they fought again, but this time Henderson made short work of Cerrone, catching him off-guard early in the fight by pouncing on a guillotine choke that forced ‘Cowboy’ to tap.
Henderson lost his WEC title just one fight later against Anthony Pettis, but then went on to win the UFC lightweight title and defended it three times before his nemesis Pettis again took the belt from around his waist.
Henderson notched up two wins after that, but suffered a first round KO loss to Rafael dos Anjos last time out and so another win over Cerrone in their trilogy fight will be crucial for him if he wants to keep pace with the divisions front-runners in 2015.
So, Henderson Vs Cerrone III stays as the co-main event for UFC Fight Night 59, while the January 18th event remains headlined by Conor McGregor Vs Dennis Siver.
