Donald Cerrone has revealed his original opponent at UFC Fight Night 126 or better known as UFC Austin.

Cerrone is slated to take on Yancy Medeiros in the main event. However, he revealed in a recent interview that was not always the plan.

Cerrone mentioned that he was supposed to drop back down to lightweight to fight Matt Brown. For those who may not know, Cerrone fought at welterweight for the latest two years.

For those may not recall, the story leading into Brown’s bout against Diego Sanchez on the main card of UFC Fight Night 120 on November 11th, 2017 at Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Virginia was that it would be his last fight.

Going into it, Brown was on a three-fight stoppage skid and made it clear that this would be his retirement fight.

As seen in the fight, he broke that losing streak by landing a devastating elbow strike to knock out the always tough Sanchez.

“I was going back to 155-pounds, and I thought the fight was supposed to be with Matt Brown,” Cerrone told Jim Norton and Matt Serra in a recent appearance on UFC Unfiltered (transcript courtesy of LowKickMMA). “Matt Brown called, and I begged the UFC for the fight, I told them that he wanted to do it.”

“So originally, the fight was me and Matt Brown in Austin, main event,” Cerrone said. “So, I was like, ‘alright, I wanted to go down to 155, but f—k it, whatever, no problem. So then, they said ‘well, now Matt, I guess the day doesn’t work for him, I don’t know what the excuse was.”

“He was talking about retirement, and I guess maybe I was the fight that he wants redemption,” Cerrone said. “He doesn’t wanna go out like that – I have no idea. He was asking for the fight, and I was obliged to give it to him.”

Brown has been a pro-MMA fighter for twelve years now, and it’s not often to see fighters go out on top and on their terms, which made it for a special moment when Brown got his hand raised in the Octagon.

“So, now, here I am, main event in Austin, by myself, and then Yancy’s like ‘I’ll do it!’ So I said ‘OK, here we go!’’

UFC Austin (UFC Fight Night 126) is set to take place on February 18, 2018 at Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. The main card will air on FOX Sports 1 while the preliminary card will be split broadcasted on FOX Sports 1 and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass.