While there might have been a lot of people anticipating the upcoming UFC 187 match between Khabib Nurmagomedov (22-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) and Donald Cerrone (27-6 MMA, 14-3 UFC), the match has unfortunately been scrapped. The news was leaked by someone close to the fighter that his injury was preventing his from competing at the event and he was forced to withdraw from the matchup. This person only spoke as long as his identity would be kept a secret since this hasn’t been publicly announced yet.
Even though the exact type of injury remains undisclosed, other sources reveal that it will most probably be Nurmagomedov’s knee. There is no time table for his return as of now either. His management team wasn’t available for comment on this either. UFC is now in search of an opponent for Donald Cerrone for the 23rd May event in LV. This is really disheartening for Nurmagomedov since he had recently said he was back to 100 %.
Things don’t seem to be going too well for Johny Hendricks the former UFC welterweight champion either. He gave up a chance to fight for the title when he fought at UFC 185 against Matt Brown and can’t expect a rematch for the title until Rory MacDonald vs Robbie Lawler at UFC 189 at least. Lawler was able to win the title against Hendricks at UFC 181 last December when it was left vacant by Georges St-Pierre. He believes he’s the current number 1 contender and he doesn’t mind waiting in line to see who wins between Lawler and MacDonald. He doesn’t want to fight during this time unless the UFC asks him too.
In all probability he will not get another shot until November or December of this year although he said that he’s been fighting for three years, he doesn’t mind waiting a few more months for another shot at the title.
