Report: Cerrone Replaces Stout Against Kelly at UFC 126

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Donald Cerrone now has a date for his UFC debut, but the “Cowboy” won’t be fighting Cole Miller as he had hoped. Instead, Cerrone will reportedly step in for the injured Sam Stout to take on Paul Kelly in a lightweight scrap at UFC 126.

The event, which goes down Feb. 5 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, will be headlined by a middleweight title clash between reigning champion Anderson Silva and former light heavyweight title-holder Vitor Belfort. News of the Cerrone-Kelly matchup was first reported by MMAWeekly.com on Monday.

Cerrone comes fresh off a dominant submission victory over Chris Horodecki at the WEC’s final show in December. After an evenly-matched first round which saw both men slinging leather, Cerrone locked up a triangle choke and finished the fight in the second frame.

The Jackson’s MMA product has shown great improvement in his wrestling of late, as evidenced by his performance against former WEC champion Jamie Varner in September. In the rematch, Cerrone shucked Varner’s takedown attempts and dictated the flow of the fight while using his superior striking to score points. Cerrone thrice competed for the WEC lightweight title, but come up short in each attempt.

A product of Team Kaobon in Liverpool, England, Kelly has found mixed results in his last few Octagon outings. Though he holds a 5-3 promotional record overall, Kelly is 2-2 in his last four fights for the UFC. Most recently, the 26-year-old earned a technical knockout victory against T.J. O’Brien at UFC 123 in October.

Kelly originally competed in the promotion at welterweight and made his lightweight debut at UFC 99. The Brit has been bested by Jacob Volkmann, Dennis Siver and Marcus Davis, and holds notable victories over Matt Veach and countryman Paul Taylor. Kelly has finished eight of his 11 career wins and has only been knocked out once as a professional.