It’s become apparent that no one is going to stop Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone from coming back to the UFC.
Cerrone wants to have two more fights under the UFC banner to reach 50 total fights, and former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping believes he has the perfect opponent for Cerrone.
“The one matchup that I think most people would sign off on, if he’s even still not retired, it would be a rematch with Tony Ferguson,” Bisping said on his Believe You Me podcast.
I’ve made the same suggestion for Cerrone’s comeback, and former lightweight contender Paul Felder shares the sentiment.
“Yeah, but that would have to be at least at 170, right? That could make sense,” Felder said. “And that’s a guy like, alright, you lost to him years ago. Tony’s been on a really rough skid. Really, really rough skid for a long time. It’s two guys that the UFC doesn’t really even want to be fighting, so what better way to get them both their fights on their contracts than to give them that?”
Ferguson defeated Cerrone in Chicago at UFC 238 in June 2018. It was the last time Ferguson won a fight. Both Cerrone and Ferguson are well past their primes. Most fans believe Ferguson should be retired and that Cerrone, already a Hall-of-Famer, should remain retired.
UFC President Dana White has said on multiple occasions that he would like to see Ferguson retire. White also expressed his disapproval of Cerrone coming back. Something tells me that won’t stop either man from climbing back into the Octagon.
Ferguson took to social media on Thursday, hinting at a fight in 2025. Is it possible there have already been preliminary discussions for him to rematch Cerrone? I wouldn’t call it crazy.
If it does come to fruition, I’d expect the fight to land on the main card of an upcoming pay-per-view or as the main event of a Fight Night card in the summer.
Besides talk of a Ferguson-Cerrone rematch, UFC fight news has been extremely busy in the New Year.
No. 8 flyweight Asu Almabayev will take on No. 9 Steve Erceg on March 1. Ali Abdelaziz, the manager for former bantamweight and flyweight champion Henry Cejudo, says his client will likely be back in the Octagon in February or March, and he will compete at 135 pounds.
Just before the New Year, multiple other fights were announced, including Kelvin Gastelum vs. Joe Pyfer at middleweight and Calvin Kattar vs. Youssef Zalal.
The events scheduled for the first quarter of the year are coming together nicely. The first one on the docket happens at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on January 11.
Here is a look at the complete card:
- Mackenzie Dern vs. Amanda Ribas – Strawweight
- Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Carlston Harris – Welterweight
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. César Almeida – Middleweight
- Chris Curtis vs. Roman Kopylov – Middleweight
- Austin Bashi vs. Christian Rodriguez – Featherweight
- Punahele Soriano vs. Uroš Medić – Welterweight
- Jose Johnson vs. Felipe Bunes – Flyweight
- Marco Túlio vs. Ihor Potieria – Middleweight
- Thiago Moisés vs. Trey Ogden – Lightweight
- Andreas Gustafsson vs. Preston Parsons – Welterweight
- Ernesta Kareckaite vs. Nicolle Caliari – Flyweight
- Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs. Bruno Lopes – Light Heavyweight
- Viktoriia Dudakova vs. Fatima Kline – Strawweight
- Nurullo Aliev vs. Yanal Ashmouz – Lightweight
