UFC Fight Night 45: Behind Brash Facade, a Cowboy Quietly Comes into His Own
After polishing off Jim Miller via head-kick knockout on Wednesday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 45, Donald Cerrone stood in the Octagon and announced his future plans.
They sounded suspiciously like many of his past plans.
โIโm excited about drinking a bunch of Budweiser tonight and getting after itโฆ,โ he told UFC play-by-play announcer Jon Anik. โ(Iโll fight) whoever wants to fight, I donโt care. As soon as possible, any '55ers or '70s out there who want to fight, come on.โ
The whole performance was classic Cerroneโfrom the highlight reel second-round stoppage to the camouflage piping down the sides of his fight shorts and the celebratory beer at the post-fight press conference. The victory was his third win of 2014, built his ongoing win streak to four overall and kept him on what is arguably the biggest, best roll of his UFC career.
And we all know nobody rolls quite like the Cowboy.
Outside the cage, Cerrone remains a wild man. At 31 years old, heโs still a hard-nosed, beer-swilling live wire who openly admits the breakneck pace of his career barely keeps up with his spending habits. Even his new managerial agreement with NASCAR driver Kevin Harvickโnot to mention that King of Beers sponsorshipโfeels like a cocktail mixed of one part business acumen and two parts rollicking good time.
Yet, if all you saw in Cerroneโs master-class performance this week were the 10-gallon hat and the longneck bottles, you missed something.
Behind the brash facade, this guy is quietly coming into his own as a 155-pound contender.
Itโs hard to believe, but the Miller bout was Cerroneโs first ever UFC main event. The two principals reportedly entered into a gentlemenโs agreement to give fans their moneyโs worth andโwhile they whole-fistedly succeededโCerrone also spent the frenzied, eight-and-a-half-minute ride in complete control of all his faculties.
While it doesnโt feel entirely accurate to say heโs โmaturingโ before our very eyes, the Cerrone weโve seen in the cage during the past eight months is the best version so far. The guy who ended up flooring Miller with a shin across the cranium felt a world away from the fighter who let Nate Diaz talk him out of his game at UFC 141 or the guy who crumpled under the weight of Anthony Pettisโ high-octane attack in January 2013.
As a notoriously slow starter, Cerrone conceded some early takedowns to Miller and ate a few of the New Jersey southpawโs counter left hands. When the fight did hit the mat, though, he didnโt stay down long enough to allow his opponent to get into his bag of tricks.
On the feet, Cerrone countered Millerโs more rudimentary striking attack with chipping knees, kicks and punches to the bodyโincluding one that floored him early in the second round but was mistakenly ruled a low blow by referee Dan Miragliotta.
It was a potentially fight-altering officiating gaffe, but on this night Cerrone was too good for it to matter.
After Miragliotta restarted the fight, Cerrone went right back to punishing Millerโs midsection. Once heโd gotten the full, undivided attention of the 30-year-old wrestlerโs internal organs, he abruptly changed levels, landing flush on the side of the head with the kick that put Miller down for good.
The blow looked eerily similar to the kick Cerrone used to KO Adriano Martins six months ago, but this one came on a bigger stage and at a more important moment in his seven-year, 24-fight run in Zuffa-owned promotions.
With Pettis injured and Diaz at odds with UFC management, Cerrone is one of the lightweight divisionโs brightest active stars. This win gives him a good chance of reclaiming a spot in the 155-pound Top Five when the UFCโs official rankings are released later this week, or of landing a fight against someone who already has one.
Maybe you had to squint a little bit to notice, but it felt like there was real professional growth on display here. Overall, Cerrone left the impression thatโat least from bell to bellโheโs growing up.
Yeah, heโs going to walk a little bowlegged and bring a six-pack of suds to the presser, but at this stage heโs also fully capable of fighting a measured, shrewd fight. While heโs loudly assuring us that heโs going to get lit at the afterparty, heโs also carefully name-checking his sponsors.
Leading up to the fight, Miller had said he wanted to get in Cerroneโs face and disrupt his rhythm, maybe even fluster the hotheaded Jacksonโs MMA fighter.
It didnโt work.
Cerrone kept his composure and didnโt stray from the game plan. Instead, he calmly parried the shorter manโs overhand power punches and leapt immediately back to his feet after takedowns so he could continue to whittle away with a persistent striking attack.
When the violent end finally came for Miller, it was because Cerrone had spent the previous round and a half fighting a meticulous, disciplined fight. He simply turned away Millerโs offense and waited patiently for his own superior skills to win the day.
That deserves our applause, because a restrained, calculated Cowboy is the only kind that has a chance to make noise against the upper echelon of the lightweight ranks.
Historically, itโs always been right about now that Cerroneโs 24/7 party gets derailed. He began his career in the Octagon on a 5-0 tear during 2010-11 but unraveled against higher-level competition. Heโs had the aforementioned setbacks against Pettis and Diaz, as well as a more recent slip against Rafael dos Anjos last August.
Cerrone canโt afford too many more of those, as his next fight will certainly be against someone near the very top of the food chain. There has been speculation that he could meet fourth-ranked Khabib Nurmagomedov next. That has all the makings of another barnburner, albeit a fairly tough matchup for the swaggering American.
A slightly more advantageous pairing could also come against Josh Thomson (No. 3), so long as he emerges unscathed from his fight against Bobby Green at the next UFC on Fox show on July 26.
Either foe could provide the next step toward Cerroneโs fondest wishโthat he fight as many as a half-dozen times this yearโand also help ease lightweight through the remainder of Pettisโ rehab and Diazโs holdout.
Against Miller, Cerrone proved that heโs up to the task, advancing his UFC record to an impressive 11-3 and showing he can still be a viable contender in MMAโs most competitive weight class.
Oh, yeah. One more thing.
He also sewed up his fourth consecutive $50,000 performance-based bonus, ensuring that his own personal brahma-bull ride through life doesn't have to slow down just yet.
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