Just days after it was announced that John Makdessi was forced to withdraw from his UFC on Versus 5 bout with Paul Taylor, UFC officials today announced a replacement. The WEC veteran Donald Cerrone will step in and face the British fighter on august 14th.
Cerrone (15-3) is coming off a dominant unanimous decision victory over Vagner Rocha at UFC 131 earlier this month. The win was the second in the UFC for the “Cowboy”, who is currently riding a four fight win streak between the WEC and the UFC.
Paul Taylor (11-6-1) will be making his third trip to the Octagon as a lightweight after opening his UFC career 3-4 as a welterweight. Taylor has looked much better at 155 pounds, knocking out Gabe Ruediger via head kick in his last bout. Like Cerrone, Taylor also has a Kickboxinig background, but he doesn’t have near the ground game of Cerrone.
Taylor will be the second English-born fighter Cerrone has faced in the UFC, following Paul Kelly in his promotional debut at UFC 126. Cerrone submitted Kelly in the second round and he’ll be looking to add submission #13 to his record against the “Relentless” fighter out of Walsall, England.
UFC on Versus 5 takes place Aug. 14 at Bradley Center in Milwaukee and feature a welterweight main event between sluggers Dan Hardy and Chris Lytle.
