Yesterday on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show Al Iaquinta said he had been assured by UFC his next fight would be a “big one”. Twenty four hours later it would appear that to be true. News broke Tuesday afternoon that Iaquinta (14-4-1 MMA, 9-3 UFC) had agreed to fight Donald Cerrone (35-11 MMA, 22-8 UFC). The fight will take place May 4th at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The fight will be live on ESPN +. Both sides have verbally agreed to what would be the main event on the card.

“Raging” Al Iaquinta comes off a strong five round unanimous decision win over Kevin Lee, which moved him further up the lightweight rankings. Most recently, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone returned to lightweight for the first time since 2015 recording at TKO win over Alexander Hernandez.

It’s no secret the lightweight division has several question marks centered around the suspensions of Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov as well as former champion Connor McGregor. Both Iaquinta and Cerrone had lobbied for a matchup with Connor McGregor. Yet with a potential fight between McGregor and Cerrone, as well as a fight between Iaquinta and Tony Ferguson both falling apart it would leave the “Brooklyn Gangster” Iaquinta to take on “Cowboy” Cerrone.

The fight has the makings to be an exciting one. Cowboy currently ranked #9 recently said he wanted someone in the top 5 of the division. He gets just that in Iaquinta currently ranked #4. For Iaquinta an opportunity to record a win over a big name and veteran in the sport as both fighters look to continue to climb the ranks, working towards UFC gold.

-Matt Pellicane