Donald Cerrone says ‘super bad’ blood infection forced him out of UFC 213

Donald Cerrone is out of UFC 213, but not due to an injury.

The longtime UFC fighter revealed in an Instagram post on Wednesday afternoon that he is currently dealing with a blood infection, which is what forced him out of his welterweight bout with Robbie Lawler. “Cowboy” said he expects recovery time to only last one week.

“Let everyone know this is not an injury,” Cerrone wrote. “But a super bad infection in my blood. 7 days of IV and I’ll be back at it. Working on getting the fight rescheduled.”

MMAFighting.com first reported the news of the bout cancellation earlier Wednesday.

Cerrone was scheduled to meet the former champion at July’s first of two pay-per-view cards, which caps off International Fight Week 2017. UFC 213 is set to take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 8.

MMAFighting.com also reported that Cerrone vs. Lawler is now in the works for UFC 214, which is set to take place from Anaheim, Calif., on July 29. The bout was initially scheduled for last November’s UFC 205 in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, but it was scrapped after “Ruthless” pulled out.

Cerrone is coming off a TKO loss to Jorge Masvidal this past January. Prior to that, the veteran was 4-0 in his 170-pound run dating back to early 2016.

Lawler hasn’t fought since the end of July 2016, when he got knocked out by Tyron Woodleyand lost the welterweight title.