CB Dollaway’s back injury result of elevator mishap prior to UFC 203

Friday evening, UFC President Dana White took to Twitter with a screenshot of a text message conversation between himself and Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone. In the text, Cerrone informed White that he was already in Las Vegas, and willing to step in to fight Francimar Barroso after CB Dollaway pulled out of their scheduled fight on just 24 hours notice.

While the details regarding the circumstances behind Dollaway pulling out of the fight were not immediately revealed, MMAFighting has now received word that Dollaway was forced out of the fight with a back injury. Surprisingly, Dollaway didn’t injury his back during a last-minute training session. The TUF veteran was one of several UFC fighters trapped on an elevator in a hotel in Cleveland.

According to the report, the elevator malfunctioned, and Dollaway was injured. At the present time there’s no word on how severe Dolloway’s back injury is, however none of the other fighters on the elevator were injured.

The UFC released a statement on the matter via UFC.com:

“UFC announced that CB Dollaway has had to withdraw from his scheduled bout at UFC 203 due to an injury he suffered last night as a result of an elevator accident at a hotel in Cleveland.

UFC officials have been in communication with hotel management, and the hotel is currently evaluating and investigating the issues surrounding the incident.”

Dollaway would have entered the bout on a 3-fight losing streak, with his most recent loss coming via KO at the hands of Nate Marquardt at the end of last year. While there has been no word as to how long Dollaway will be out, he very well may have found himself in a win-or-be-cut situation if he had fought.

So far there has been no word yet on whether or not UFC President Dana White will be taking Donald Cerrone up on his offer to step in and fight Francimar Barroso, however the current lineup for UFC 203 indicates that the UFC has opted to proceed without the fight.