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Brett Okamoto
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ESPN Staff Writer
- MMA columnist for ESPN.com
- Analyst for “MMA Live”
- Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun
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Ariel Helwani
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ESPN Staff Writer
Ariel Helwani is an MMA reporter at ESPN. Follow him on Twitter at @arielhelwani.
Top UFC lightweights Al Iaquinta and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone have verbally agreed to fight as the main event of UFC Fight Night: Ottawa on May 4, multiple sources told ESPN.
Cerrone had been vocal about fighting former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor, but the promotion went a different direction. Cerrone (35-11-1) is coming off two straight wins, most recently a dominant second-round TKO win against rising prospect Alexander Hernandez in January.
Iaquinta (14-4-1) has won six of his past seven matchups. The New York native most recently defeated Kevin Lee by unanimous decision in December.
“I just think it’s a great fight,” Iaquinta told ESPN. “I’ve been watching Cowboy since his WEC days. I like these fights, fighting guys I came up watching and always wondering how I would do against them, thinking I could beat them. I have a lot of respect for Cowboy.
“There are a lot of big fights coming up in this division. Anybody could get a big win and see their stock skyrocket.”
Though the card is not finalized, other official matchups include middleweights Derek Brunson vs. Elias Theodorou and heavyweights Arjan Bhullar vs. Juan Adams.