Diego Sanchez out of fight with Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, search for replacement underway

Diego Sanchez has been forced out of his upcoming fight against former teammate Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at UFC Vegas 26 on May 8.

Multiple sources confirmed the information to MMA Fighting on Wednesday following an initial report from reporter Carlos Contreras Legaspi on Twitter.

Details surrounding Sanchez’s withdrawal from the card have not been revealed.

With Sanchez out, the UFC has started a search to find a new opponent for Cerrone, who is still expected to compete on the upcoming May 8 card.

The fight was supposed to serve as a showdown between former teammates and training partners after Sanchez and Cerrone both came up under head coach Greg Jackson. Unfortunately, now it appears that fight is no longer happening with Sanchez sidelined for undisclosed reasons.

As for Cerrone, he will look to get back on track after a 0-4 record with one no contest in his past five fights. The former title contender most recently went to a majority draw with Niko Price but that result was overturned to a no contest after Price tested positive for marijuana.

The upcoming UFC Vegas 26 card has taken several major hits in the past 24 hours after the original main event was also scrapped after T.J. Dillashaw suffered a cut in training that forced him out of his scheduled bout against Cory Sandhagen.

As of now, the planned main event will see Michelle Waterson take on Marina Rodriguez in a strawweight bout on the card.