Khabib Nurmagomedov Out Of Fight Against Donald Cerrone At ‘UFC 187’ — John Makdessi Takes His Place
After it was first announced, UFC 187 was shaping up to be the premier MMA pay-per-view event for 2015. Now, MMA fans think it will be “just another UFC pay-per-view.” It all started when the Inquisitr reported that UFC lightweight champion Jon Jones was wanted by the Albuquerque Police Department for a hit-and-run accident.
Because of the hoopla surrounding the situation, UFC not only suspended Jones indefinitely, but stripped him of the title. That was just the beginning of Jones’ downward spiral in which Reebok terminated their sponsorship with him. Finally, Jones’ career is in question when UFC president Dana White went on record to say that Jones “had a lot of chances,” and the current situation is “his last one.”
Right now, sports news sites are busy covering Jon Jones’ replacement, Daniel Cormier. However, there is another major change on the UFC 187 card, which adds to the perception why MMA fans think UFC 187 will be, as mentioned earlier, “just another UFC pay-per-view.” Reports now show that Khabib Nurmagomedov is out of his fight against Donald Cerrone.
According to Bleacher Report, the undefeated Dagestani Russian, Khabib Nurmagomedov, will no longer be fighting against Donald Cerrone in their Title Eliminator fight. Apparently, Nurmagomedov was injured as confirmed by John Morgan on his Twitter account.
From what I’m told, it seems @TeamKhabib‘s injury is to his meniscus. Surgery possible but not certain. Decision made soon, but out at 187.
— John Morgan (@MMAjunkieJohn) April 30, 2015
As shown from the tweet above, Khabib Nurmagomedov specifically injured his meniscus. It is also shown that the injury brings the possibility of surgery, but guarantees Nurmagomedov will be out of UFC 187. It should be expressed that no information was given on which meniscus was injured. This is important because if it so happens that Nurmagomedov injured his right one, that would be a repeat of the injury that stopped his first scheduled bout against Donald Cerrone back in September, 2014, at UFC 178. On a more debilitating point, the fact that Khabib Nurmagomedov suffered two meniscus injuries is a bad omen, possibly foreshadowing a short career.
Nevertheless, with Khabib Nurmagomedov now out of UFC 187, Donald Cerrone needs a new opponent to face. That opponent will be John Makdessi, as reported by MMAWeekly. Though he is just filling a spot A.S.A.P., Makdessi isn’t just any UFC fighter that was “just available” at the time. Makdessi is a nine-year UFC veteran with a 13-3-0 record, in which he won four of his last five fights. And just recently, John Makdessi won at UFC 186, on April 25, when he finished off Shane Campbell in the first round.
UFC 187 will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 23, 2015. The pay-per-view will start at 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST.
[Featured Image via UFC Promotions, Post Image via Sherdog]
