John Makdessi to face off with Donald Cerrone at UFC 187

Despite many higher-profile names asking to fight Donald Cerrone at UFC 187, the promotion has decided to go off the board a bit and give the bout to a fighter that just won last weekend. John Makdessi, who stopped Shane Campbell in the first round of their UFC 186 bout, will get the shot at Cerrone on May 23rd. Brett Okamoto of ESPN shared the news.

The replacement became necessary when top contender Khabib Nurmagomedov was forced out of the main card bout with an injury, which is rumored to be a torn meniscus.

Makdessi (13-3) is 6-3 in the UFC overall and has won four out of his last five bouts. He recently came under fire as the "face" of Fear the Fighter, which is being sued by fellow fighter Gegard Mousasi for not paying sponsorship money. Makdessi has denied having anything to do with the business side of things.

Cerrone (27-6) has won seven in a row and is coming off a win over former champ Ben Henderson in January.

The bout will still take place on the main card of the event, which goes down in the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.