A few fighters were interested in fighting Donald Cerrone on very short notice at UFC 205 on Saturday, one of them being Alan Jouban.
The UFC welterweight was already in New York City, where the landmark is scheduled to take place, for a Paradise Warrior Retreat seminar and modeling duties, as well as the UFC 205 festivities, when his management team talked to UFC officials.
“I went down this morning to have some breakfast and read the news that Gastelum was out while eating an egg sandwich and coffee,” Jouban told Champions.co. “A) I was looking forward to that fight and b) this is what I wanted, to fight in New York City. The whole time my hand was healing I wondered, ‘Will I be back in time for New York?’ So it was in the back of my mind.”
According to Jouban, matchmaker Joe Silva was interested in having Jouban step up to fight Cowboy, but there was a roadblock in the way of a potential appearance at Madison Square Garden: the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC). Jouban said that the NYSAC wouldn’t consider sanctioning him — or any other fighter — to fight on one day’s notice. The reason for this isn’t clear.
“I knew there were lots of regulations for this event, with extensive medicals and the new early weigh-ins, which I love, but I would have needed a couple hours to make weight,” he said. “Joe Silva loved it, but he said the commission wouldn’t sanction the fight.
“I was getting ready to run down to MSG and make weight and then fight.”
Cerrone was left without an opponent Friday morning when Kelvin Gastelum was forced off the card due to being overweight. The NYSAC has a strict rule stating that fighters cannot weigh in more than seven pounds apart, and that if they do, their fight will be scratched. That was the case for Cerrone and Gastelum.
Saturday’s UFC 205 is headlined by a super-fight between lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and featherweight titleholder Conor McGregor.