Jeremy Stephens (James Law/HeavyMMA)
Injury forces Edwards out of bout with ‘Cowboy’
The UFC’s May card in Virginia has seen some shuffling thanks to injury, but a pair of lightweight contenders will still meet on the card.
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone will now face Jeremy Stephens with Yves Edwards off the card with an injury. The event, originally expected to be the UFC’s third show on the FX cable network, will take place on May 15 in Fairfax, Va. But instead of FX, the main card will be broadcast on Fuel TV. The UFC has confirmed the new fight booking, which is expected to be part of the main card on Fuel.
Stephens (20-7, 7-6 UFC) is coming off a close split decision loss to Anthony Pettis at UFC 136 last October. All three judges scored the first round for Stephens in that fight, likely thanks to a pair of takedowns. And all three gave the second to Pettis when he landed four takedowns of his own. But Stephens took just one of the three judges’ cards in the third. That loss snapped a two-fight winning streak that saw him send Marcus Davis out of the UFC with a Knockout of the Night victory at UFC 125 and a dominant unanimous decision win over Danny Downes at the TUF 13 Finale.
Cerrone (17-4, 1 NC, 4-1 UFC) had a six-fight winning streak snapped at UFC 141 with a unanimous decision loss to Nate Diaz in the co-main event. Cerrone had put together one of the best streaks in the lightweight division, and had done so in dominating fashion. He won his final two WEC bouts before coming to the UFC in the merger and going 4-0 with three bonuses. But then he ran into Diaz, who outboxed him to snap his streak.
UFC on Fuel 3 will take place at the Patriot Center in Fairfax. It will be the UFC’s second visit to that venue, which is located just outside Washington, D.C. UFC Fight Night 20 also took place there in January 2010.