Donald Cerrone faces Yancy Medeiros in the main event of UFC Fight Night Austin, but that wasn’t always the case according to “Cowboy.”
The fighter is claiming that he was supposed to battle a semi-retired Matt Brown in the main event instead of Medeiros.
“I was going back to 155-pounds, and I thought the fight was supposed to be with Matt Brown,” Cerrone said on UFC Unfiltered. “Matt Brown called, and I begged the UFC for the fight, I told them that he wanted to do it. So originally, the fight was me and Matt Brown in Austin, main event. So, I was like, ‘alright, I wanted to go down to 155, but f—k it, whatever, no problem. So then, they said ‘well, now Matt, I guess the day doesn’t work for him, I don’t know what the excuse was. So, now, here I am, main event in Austin, by myself, and then Yancy’s like ‘I’ll do it!’ So I said ‘OK, here we go!’”
If the fight between Cerrone and Brown had gone on, it would have been a rematch, because Cerrone scored a violent knockout of Brown at UFC 206.
Cowboy believes that Brown may have wanted the supposed rematch to avenge that first loss.
“He was talking about retirement, and I guess maybe I was the fight that he wants redemption,” Cerrone said. “He doesn’t wanna go out like that – I have no idea. He was asking for the fight, and I was obliged to give it to him.”
UFC Fight Night Austin takes place on Sunday, February 18 from the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas with Donald Cerrone and Yancy Medeiros headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs live on Fox Sports 1.
