The UFC’s lightweight title shot picture continues to take shape, as now it looks like Justin Gaethje will battle Donald Cerrone, one week after interim champ Dustin Poirier faces champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Recently UFC President Dana White informed Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole that Cerrone and Gaethje are going to throw down in the main event of the September 14th card in Vancouver, British Columbia. Since then, ESPN’s Ariel Helwanhas spoke with sources who have said that while the bout isn’t finalized just yet, it likely will be soon.
Gaethje (20-2) will be looking to move his KO streak to three, as the former WSOF champ is coming off back-to-back, first round stoppages of James Vick and Edson Barboza. Prior to that, Gaethje dropped consecutive fights to Poirier and Eddie Alvarez.
Cerrone (36-12), meanwhile, had his three fight winning streak snapped last month, as he lost via TKO (due to doctor stoppage) to Tony Ferguson.
So, obviously this is awesome news for fans, as it’s hard to imagine a fight between Cerrone and Gaethje not delivering fireworks. It’s also a big fight in terms of rankings, as note above. Currently Gaethje is #5 and Cerrone is #4.
What’s also interesting here is that another high stakes fight in the lightweight division has been booked, which doesn’t involve Conor McGregor. There had been talk about either Gaethje or Cerrone possibly being next for McGregor. Increasingly it’s looking like 2019 will come and go without McGregor competing.