The rumour nobody wanted to believe was today confirmed: the UFC 213 welterweight fight between former champion Robbie Lawler and leading contender Donald Cerrone has been pulled from its July 8 date, due to a staph infection suffered by Cerrone.

The fight had been set for the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and was one of the most highly-anticipated of 2017, but a Cerrone staph infection has thrown a spanner in the works and now, it would seem, there is no chance of him meeting Lawler before the summer is out.

Cerrone, posting to his Instagram account, explained: “Let everyone know this is not an injury, but a super bad infection in my blood. Seven days of IV and I’ll be back at it. Working on getting the fight rescheduled.”

Some had hoped the Lawler-Cerrone fight would be rescheduled for the bumper UFC 214 show on July 29 in Anaheim, but UFC President Dana White has since confirmed that won’t be the case.