Maybe it’s cursed?

While last time out, it was Cerrone suffering a bad case of food poisoning, this time, a Lauzon ailment is to blame.

Lauzon, who skipped the ceremonial weigh-in, released a video to social media Saturday explaining why he had to pull out of the anticipated fight with fellow legend Cerrone.

“So, I’m not fighting Cowboy Cerrone tonight,” Lauzon stated in the video, posted to his verified Instagram profile. “The freakiest, weirdest thing ever. I weigh in officially, everything’s fine, I go to sit down in the chairs where all the fighters are, and I go to put my socks on, because I have flip-flops on, so I have to put socks on. I turn my knee out, and my knee locks.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce9BIsPP8DG

“I’ve dealt with meniscus injuries on both knees, but this knee in particular, for years and years, I’ve had it cleaned out a whole bunch of times. But when it does lock up, usually I’m able to straighten it out, it unlocks, totally fine 100% immediately.” There was no such luck for Lauzon this time, however. “This time I’m now surrounded by all the fighters, the commission, Cowboy’s in the room, I’m trying to not make a scene and let people know I’ve got a problem with my knee. So I sit there a couple minutes and eventually I hopped on one of my cornerman’s backs, jumped on Frank’s back acting like I’m choking him, like we’re being funny, but I couldn’t stand, couldn’t walk at all at that point.”

Attempts to unlock the knee, through stretching, soaking it, even an injection to numb it, all failed, even after having UFC PI experts work on it for hours.

The end result? Cerrone vs. Lauzon is off for the second time. It remains to be seen if the UFC will attempt to book the match-up for a third occasion.

The post Joe Lauzon Out of UFC Austin, Fight with Cowboy Cerrone Off Again appeared first on Cageside Press.

“Right away, they were talking about this date. I didn’t know if it was going to work; Cowboy had a movie thing he was doing in Thailand, and stuff like that,” Lauzon (28-15) recalled during this week’s UFC Austin media day. “I thought it wasn’t going to work, but he said he’d make it work, and he made it work.”

As is well-known by now, Cerrone pulled out of the fight last minute due to a bout of food poisoning, which may or may not have been the result of some iffy street tacos. Within days, Cerrone himself had called Lauzon to offer the June 18th date, despite a potential scheduling conflict.

“I owe you the fight, I got you, I’ll be there,” Lauzon remembers Cerrone saying. “And then he went and did the movie anyway.”

Movie or not, Cerrone is in Austin and hopefully avoiding any questionable foodstuffs. In the meantime, Lauzon revealed that he had an inkling all along that their April 30 date wouldn’t hold.

“All week, going back like a month before, two months before maybe, I kept telling everyone I had a feeling the fight was not going to happen,” said Lauzon. “I don’t know why, I didn’t know if it was going to be COVID-related, didn’t know why, just, ‘I feel like it’s not going to happen.’ I know if he’s got a broken leg, he will show up and he will try to fight, but I just had a feeling it wasn’t going to happen.”

That feeling was still dogging Lauzon at the ceremonial weigh-ins back in April. “I’ve never been paranoid like that ever before, I’ve never had a feeling like this before, I’ve never really dealt with that before. But I felt like the fight wasn’t going to happen.”

His immediate reaction? Lauzon admits to crying, and thinking “This is not how I want to be. This is not how I want this to go.”

At least this time around, he doesn’t have a bad feeling heading into the fight. “I don’t. I think it’s going to happen this time. We’ll see. We’re not there yet.”

Watch the full UFC Austin media day appearance by Joe Lauzon above. The event takes place this Saturday, June 18 at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas.

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A week removed from the massive UFC 275, which exceeded expectations, UFC Austin certainly has a few gems. Hard-hitting featherweights top the affair, with Calvin Kattar and Josh Emmett both looking to work their way to a potential title shot in a division laden with killers.

For Emmett, a win would be his fifth straight, a huge turnaround from the brutal knockout he suffered at the hands of Jeremy Stephens in 2018. Kattar, meanwhile, got back in the win column earlier this year against Giga Chikadze, and was looking to notch another high-profile victory.

In the co-main event, veterans Joe Lauzon and Cowboy Cerrone face off. With 33 post-fight bonuses between them, and nearly at the end of two legendary careers, the lightweight pair were looking to show they still had something left in the tank.

In the featured preliminary card spot, Adrian Yanez looks to continue his impressive run in the UFC’s bantamweight division against Tony Kelley — who had courted controversy earlier this year thanks to some un-PC remarks made while cornering girlfriend Andrea “KGB” Lee. Kevin Holland was back as well, going up against veteran welterweight Tim “The Dirty Bird” Means.

The UFC Austin official weigh-in takes place Friday morning in Austin, Texas — check below for results.

UFC Austin: Katter vs. Emmett Weigh-In Results

Main card

Featherweight: Calvin Kattar (146) vs. Josh Emmett (145.5)
Lightweight: Donald Cerrone (155) vs. Joe Lauzon (154.75)
Welterweight: Kevin Holland (170) vs. Tim Means (170.5)
Middleweight: Joaquin Buckley (184) vs. Albert Duraev (185.5)
Lightweight: Damir Ismagulov (155) vs. Guram Kutateladze (155.5)
Middleweight: Julian Marquez (185.5) vs. Gregory Rodrigues (185.5)

Preliminary card

Bantamweight: Adrian Yanez (135.5) vs. Tony Kelley (137.5)*
Women’s Flyweight: Jasmine Jasudavicius (124.75) vs. Natália Silva (125.5)
Welterweight: Court McGee (170) vs. Jeremiah Wells (171)
Featherweight: Ricardo Ramos (146) vs. Danny Chavez (145)
Women’s Strawweight: Maria Oliveira (115) vs. Gloria de Paula (115)
Bantamweight: Eddie Wineland (135) vs. Cody Stamann (135.5)
Middleweight: Phil Hawes (185) vs. Deron Winn (186)
Middleweight: Roman Dolidze (185.5) vs. Kyle Daukaus (185.5)

*Tony Kelley missed weight by 1.5 pounds

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Word of the new date was first reported by Brett Okamoto of ESPN.

The first match-up between the duo fell out of UFC 274 when Cerrone took ill due to what was described as a non-COVID related illness. Reportedly, Lauzon was not sure if the fight would actually happen after all.

UFC President Dana White later suggested some bad tacos were the culprit, which forced Cerrone to pull the trigger on a rare fight cancellation.

In the end the pair find themselves matched up once again in Austin where there will be a crowd which was a sticking point for both fighters when they were first presented with the matchup.

In addition to Cerrone vs. Lauzon the UFC on ESPN 37 card stands as follows:

• Calvin Kattar vs. Josh Emmett
• Tim Means vs. Kevin Holland
• Court McGee vs. Jeremiah Wells
• Joaquin Buckley vs. Albert Duarev
• Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Natalia Cristina da Silva
• Damir Ismagulov vs. Guram Kutateladze
• Maria Oliveira vs. Gloria de Paula
• Eddie Wineland vs. Cory Stamann
• Roman Dolidze vs. Kyle Daukaus
• Phil Hawes vs. Deron Winn
• Julian Marquez vs. Gregory Rodrigues

The post Donald Cerrone vs. Joe Lauzon Rebooked For UFC Austin On June 18 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Between them, Cowboy Cerrone and Joe Lauzon held 33 post-fight bonuses ahead of UFC 274.

Combined, they had 64 fights worth of experience in the UFC, had been in multiple Fight of the Night winning bouts, and even appeared in a few Fight of the Year candidates. Perhaps more importantly, both had the longstanding goodwill of the fans — you’d be hard-pressed to find a more popular duo competing on Saturday’s card, or any other.

There was a chance that UFC 274 could have been the last hurrah for Cerrone, Lauzon, or potentially even both. But as the card kicked off on Saturday in Phoenix, Arizona, it was announced that the fight was off.

The UFC broadcast team announced the news after the preliminary card opener, Journey Newson vs. Fernie Garcia, had come to a close. A non-COVID related illness suffered by Cowboy was announced as the reason behind the cancellation.

Cerrone vs. Lauzon had been expected to open up the PPV card. Unfortunately, the match-up will have to wait. “He was throwing up, he couldn’t keep food down,” UFC analyst Joe Rogan explained on the broadcast. While Cerrone was given some time, doctors determined that he was unfit to fight.

UFC 274 moves forward with 14 fights. The main event sees Justin Gaethje challenging for lightweight gold — with now-former champ Charles Oliveira stripped of his belt after missing weight on Friday.

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“It’s real. I just saw Donald out there, Cowboy. I’m glad to be back. It’s a weird feeling when you’re being the fighter versus when you’re coaching helping out everyone else. The nerves…it’s different. I don’t know if it’s necessarily more intense, but it’s just different. Maybe a little less intense. I think when it’s my fight I have some influence on what’s going to happen. Coaching’s kind of like ahhh I hope he does this, I hope he does that. It’s different,” Lauzon told reporters on Wednesday.

Lauzon mentioned running into Cerrone in the fighter hotel, but there was no animosity between the MMA vets.

“We’ve both been doing it so long I don’t think it’s going to change anything. He was like ‘Oh is your family coming out’, I asked him about his. It’s just all good. We’re friendly, but I promise we will try to murder each other on Saturday,” Lauzon said.

Lauzon has been in the UFC since 2006. His opponent since 2011, but is the Cowboy entering the octagon on Saturday night a shell of himself?

“He’s done great. I understand 100% why someone would want to fight up a weight class. I don’t think that he was…..he wasn’t the best size for welterweight right? He’s a big lightweight, but he’s a smaller welterweight. So I understand that, and he fought so many killers! So he came up short in a lot of his last fights, but he fought killer, after killer, after killer. So of course those are all super hard fights,” Lauzon said.

“I think that you’re going to remember people for their strengths and not their weaknesses sometimes. You don’t remember the bad performances. You’re going to remember the good performances. That’s who you need to train for. We didn’t train for the worst Cowboy. We trained for the best Cowboy.”

Lauzon is known for putting on exciting fights which in turn has earned him a lot of bonuses during his UFC career. Even on a stacked UFC 274 card Lauzon feels that he and Cowboy can put on another bonus-deserving performance.

“I’m focused on getting the win, but there’s a good chance someone’s getting a bonus off the other. Maybe it’s fight of the night, maybe it’s performance bonus. We both have a lot of bonuses for good reason. We try to murder each other,” Lauzon said.

“Very, very good chance of a bonus for this fight.”

Joe Lauzon faces Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone at UFC 274 on Saturday, April 7, 2022 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Check out Lauzon’s full media day scrum above. More coverage can be found below.

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“It was much needed time off. I took a break because everyone says getting into the UFC is the most important thing they could ever do in their life. I agree with them on that, but when they get here they seem to put the brakes on and kind of quit. They make it all the way here and they go so hard to get here and they put the brakes on. I kind of caught myself ridiculing these kids for doing that, and I was doing the exact same thing,” Cerrone told reporters on Wednesday.

Cerrone was referring to fighters making to the top promotion in the sport and then being satisfied with that.

“The saying is, ‘It’s hard to be hungry when you’re full’ And I agree. So I took some time off after my last loss for sure and I didn’t know when I was going to fight, if I was going to fight again. And then one day I just woke up, called Sean (Shelby) like ‘Let’s get a fight.’ Moved camp to Vegas, parking lot pimping out in front of the UFC PI,” Cerrone said.

Cerrone moved his camp to Las Vegas, took advantage of everything the UFC PI has to offer, and more importantly trusted his coaches to guide his training camp.

“Like I said, I woke up and was like ‘Let’s do this’ and let’s do everything that I need to do to be successful so there’s no questions in my mind should have, would have, could have. Let’s do what I needed to do to get to the UFC back in the day. Let’ f*cking earn your keep. Let’s be here, let everybody know you f*cking belong here,” Cerrone said.

Cerrone has been a fighter that’s been known to take any fight, any place, any time even if he’s coming off short rest. He’s always fought to get that pay check, to get to the gold, and to put on exciting fights for the fans. Now that he’s older, wiser, a veteran of the sport, what is Cowboy fighting for?

“I have nothing else to prove. I’ve set records, I’ve been here, I’ve stayed here. I’ve done what I needed to do. So I look at myself in the mirror. I’m here for legacy now. This is just for me which is f*cking even cooler. I don’t have to worry about impressing anybody anymore that’s done. Nor do I care. I’m at the age now where it’s like you like me, you don’t, don’t give a f*ck. This is for me,” Cerrone said.

Cerrone fights for legacy, but also for family. In a rare show of emotion “Cowboy” revealed what he looks forward to the most come Saturday night in a sold-out arena in the desert of Arizona on the main card of a major PPV.

If this doesn’t get you in the feels…..@Cowboycerrone talks about his son watching him walk out of the tunnel at #UFC274 pic.twitter.com/KtnZ1B2z7y

— Cageside Press (@Cagesidepress) May 5, 2022

“It’s not me….it’s my son. I can’t, uh….I can’t wait…to walk out of that tunnel and see the look on his face, you know,” Cerrone said in between tears.

“I can’t wait until he knows finally what I do. It’s crazy how emotional I get. Anytime I was working out and I didn’t want to do it that’s what I thought of. Can’t f*cking wait. Cannot wait to see him smile like, ‘Wow, this is my dad?’. So to me that’s why I wanted a fan, a sold out crowd to walk out that tunnel, blow the roof off this place, and look over and see my son like wow Dad…that’s you.”

Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone faces Joe Lauzon at UFC 274 on Saturday, April 7, 2022 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Check out Cerrone’s full media day scrum above. More coverage can be found below.

The post UFC 274’s Cowboy Cerrone: “I Can’t Wait To Walk Out Of That Tunnel And See His Face” appeared first on Cageside Press.

Originally booked for the UFC’s April 30, 2022 Fight Night event, the fight has been pushed back to UFC 274 on May 7. Cageside Press confirmed the new date with a source familiar with the situation, following an initial report by MMA Junkie.

No reason has been given for the bout being shifted, but it seems only fitting that two fan favorites have the opportunity to fight in front of actual fans.

It could also be one of the last chances fight fans get to see Cerrone and Lauzon in action, though both fighters have stayed mum on the retirement question.

A longtime UFC and WEC veteran who fought for the UFC’s lightweight title in 2015, Cerrone (36-16, 2NC) has fought a who’s who of both the lightweight and welterweight rosters inside the octagon. “Cowboy” holds wins over Matt Brown, Al Iaquinta, Eddie Alvarez, Jim Miller, Benson Henderson (who he also lost to under the WEC banner), Jeremy Stephens, and a host of others.

However, the Colorado native has not won a fight since 2019, and is 0-5, 1NC since his win over Iaquinta at UFC Ottawa that year.

Lauzon (28-15) snapped a three-fight losing streak in 2019 with a win over Jonathan Pearce, but has not fought since. He holds wins over Michael Chiesa, Takanori Gomi, Diego Sanchez, and like Cerrone, has been a bonus-winning machine in the UFC. Cerrone holds the promotional record with 18 post-fight bonuses, while Lauzon sits in second place with 15 (the pair are both tied with Charles Oliveira and Nate Diaz, respectively).

UFC 274 is set to be headlined by a pair of title fights, as light heavyweight champ Glover Teixeira defends against Jiri Prochazka, and Charles Oliveira puts his lightweight title on the line against former interim champ Justin Gaethje. No location has been announced for the event as of yet.

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MMA Junkie was first to report the news that Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone will be fighting Joe Lauzon on April 30 at a yet-to-be-announced UFC event. Both fighters later confirmed the bout via social media.

Cerrone (36-16-2) has fallen on very tough times. The fan favorite is riding a five-fight losing streak with a draw that was switched to a no-contest thrown in there. While the five-fight skid looks bad, the UFC legend has fought nothing but studs including Justin Gaethje, Tony Ferguson, Conor McGregor, Niko Price, and Alex Morono. Cowboy has hinted at retirement, but he said he wanted to go out on his own terms and back at lightweight, where he spent most of his historic career.

Lauzon (28-15) will be returning from a two-year layoff when he enters the octagon on April 30. The last time he was in action, he snapped his three-fight losing streak by finishing Jonathan Pearce in his home state of Massachusetts. Lauzon holds the most finishes in UFC lightweight division with 13.

This match-up could serve as a retirement fight for both UFC legends, but who really knows in this sport.

The UFC’s April 30, 2022 event does not have an official location, venue, or broadcast plan announced. The April fight card currently includes the following reported bouts:

• Donald Cerrone vs. Joe Lauzon
• Gina Mazany vs. Shanna Young
• Daniel da Silva vs. Francisco Figueiredo
• Antonina Shevchenko vs. Cortney Casey
• Mike Breeden vs. Natan Levy

The post UFC: Donald Cerrone vs. Joe Lauzon Targeted For April 30 appeared first on Cageside Press.

Mike Rodriguez was told by manager Tyson Chartier and head coach Joe Lauzon to stay ready after he defeated Prachnio a little over two weeks ago. For good reason. Now, after a camping trip with his family, light heavyweight Rodriguez (11-4) is ready to make another walk to octagon at UFC Vegas 10.

“I didn’t think a week and a half later [I’d be fighting],” Rodriguez laughed, speaking to Cageside Press. “After we beat Prachnio, my coaches were at the airport and we got a group chat going. They texted me ‘yo stay ready,'” Rodriguez continued.

“I had some family stuff after. As soon as I got home, I went to do a little camping, and after I went camping, I came back home and Tyson [Chartier] called me and was like ‘didn’t I tell you to be ready, didn’t I tell you to be ready?'” Rodriguez played along, taking the bait and asking what his manager had for him. “I got a fight for you,'” was the reply. “Oh, snap!” Upon hearing the name Ed Herman, Rodriguez said “I was excited, I’m pumped, I was like ‘yeah, yeah, f*ck that, run it, let’s do it!'”

Rodriguez will be stepping in the cage against savvy veteran in Ed Herman, who currently rides a two fight win streak. There’s more to it than that, however. “Short Fuse” is a fighter Rodriguez watched back when he was in high school, just a young fan of the sport. Even better, a close friend of Rodriguez happened to be a big Ed Herman fan — but not anymore. At least not for this fight.

“Ed Herman’s the man,” Rodriguez told Cageside Press. “Funny story, I’ll make y’all feel old, when he fought Kendall Grove, I was a sophomore in high school. Me and one of my closest friends, Harley, we watched the whole season [of The Ultimate Fighter] together. We would always come to school the next day, talk about it. He came to my house to watch the finale, so we were watching the finale in my living room. He was an Ed Herman fan,” Rodriguez continued. “So as soon as I got the fight, I called him and said ‘let me tell you something, I’m fighting your boy.’ He said ‘who?'” Ed Herman, of course, was the reply. “He yelled ‘OHHHH, for real? Well he ain’t my boy no more!'”

Rodriguez is looking to secure his second win in under a month against Herman. With that hopeful victory, while not overlooking Herman in the slightest, in a wide open division, Rodriguez hopes a name with a number comes next when he gets the call from his manager again.

When asked where a win over Herman puts him in the division, Rodriguez responded “good question, I’m not really sure.”

“Honestly after Saturday, after beating Ed Herman, I think the next thing for me they would obviously give me somebody with a number, a top 15 guy,” Rodriguez told Cageside Press. “Y’all know what I can do, I’ve had hiccups but you’ve seen what I can do. Ed Herman is on a two fight win streak so I beat him, that’s a lot of credibility. But I’ve just got to focus on him [Herman].”

Catch the full interview above, where Mike Rodriguez speaks on his love for video games (gives a top 5 all time list), talks about Lauzon MMA and more. Rodriguez returns this Saturday, September 12 against Ed Herman at UFC Vegas 10 in Las Vegas.

The post UFC Vegas 10: Mike Rodriguez Fights for Second Time in Three Weeks, Wants Ranked Opponent Next appeared first on Cageside Press.