Donald Cerrone vs. Bobby Green Set For UFC 178 Co-Main Event

Earlier this week (Tues., August 12, 2014), it was announced UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones had been forced out of his anticipated UFC 178 title fight with heated rival Daniel Cormier on September 27 from Las Vegas.

The injury caused a bit of event shuffling, with August 30’s UFC 177 co-main event between flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and Chris Cariaso now becoming UFC 178’s main event.

The card still features some great bouts, with the Las Vegas debut of rising featherweight Conor McGregor, who will square off with the dangerous Dustin Poirier, the return of Dominick Cruz and Cat Zingano, and a top-level middleweight showdown of Tim Kennedy vs. Yoel Romero.

Tonight, however, the card became even more packed with fireworks as the UFC announced a pivotal lightweight war between surging combatants Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and Bobby Green:]:


Ranked at No. 4, “Cowboy” has cut a path through the talented 155-pound division since late 2013, finishing Evan Dunham, Adriano Martins, Edson Barboza, and most recently, tough veteran Jim Miller at UFC Fight Night 45, earning a post-fight bonus after each bout.

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He was supposed to fight No. 3 contender Khabib Nurmagomedov until “The Eagle” was forced out with a knee injury mere minutes after the fight was announced.

Not to be outdone, Green has won all four of his fights in the Octagon, with his latest (and greatest) win being a decision win over former Strikeforce champion Josh Thomson at July 26’s UFC on FOX 12. The No. 7-ranked “King” got the trash talk started early with Cerrone, unleashing the following on Twitter:


With the addition of the top-level bout, the current lineup of the still-stacked UFC 178 looks as follows:

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Demetrious Johnson vs. Chris Cariaso

Donald Cerrone vs. Bobby Green

Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier

Dominick Cruz vs. Takeya Mizugaki

Tim Kennedy vs. Yoel Romero

Cat Zingano vs. Amanda Nunes

Jorge Masvidal vs. James Krause

Brian Ebersole vs. John Howard

Stephen Thompson vs. Patrick Cote

Kevin Lee vs. Jon Tuck

Manny Gamburyan vs. Cody Gibson

Photo: Bill Streicher for USA TODAY Sports