Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone vs. Yancy Medeiros headlines UFC Fight Night 126 in Austin

Donald Cerrone’s plan to return to lightweight has taken a detour. “Cowboy” will remain in the welterweight division for his next bout against Yancy Medeiros at UFC Fight Night 126.

Cerrone draws his fifth UFC main-event assignment with the matchup against Medeiros on the Feb. 18 card at Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. The event airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

A UFC official verified the matchup with MMAjunkie following an initial report from MMAFighting.com.

Cerrone will enter the bout treading on dangerous ground. He has dropped his past three fights. His most recent octagon appearance was a first-round TKO loss to Darren Till at UFC Fight Night 118. He lost to Robbie Lawler and Jorge Masvidal prior to that. His most recent win came against Matt Brown at UFC 206 in December 2016.

Following the loss to Till earlier this year, Cerrone said he planned on returning to his longtime home at 155 pounds and taking more frequent breaks between bouts. The former turned out to be false, at least for now. It remains to be seen what happens with the latter.

Medeiros, meanwhile, will come into UFC Fight Night 126 in search of the biggest win of his career. He’s coming off a thrilling “Fight of the Year” candidate with Alex Oliveira at UFC 218, and the win over (the Brazilian) “Cowboy” kept him undefeated in the octagon when competing at 170 pounds. He will look to extend that streak at Cerrone’s expense.

The UFC Fight Night 126 card now includes:

• Donald Cerrone vs. Yancy Medeiros
• Derrick Lewis vs. Marcin Tybura
• Ray Borg vs. Brandon Moreno
• Sage Northcutt vs. Thibault Gouti

For more on UFC Fight Night 126, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.