UFC 141's Donald Cerrone Is the Most Underrated Fighter in the UFC

The phrase “underrated” seems to be thrown around too often these days, especially in sports. The trend seems to have caught on recently in mixed martial arts, particularly after a fighter wins in impressive fashion at a UFC event.

But one fighter who has truly been worthy of the term “underrated” is current UFC lightweight Donald Cerrone.

A former five-time Fight of the Night bonus winner in the WEC, Cerrone made his debut in the UFC this past February at UFC 126 where he defeated Paul Kelly midway through the second round of their bout, winning the first of what is sure to be many Fight of the Night awards in UFC.

Cerrone went on to fight Vagner Rocha in June, winning that fight by unanimous decision. Since that night, Cerrone has won two more fights this year, defeating Charles Oliveira in August and Dennis Siver in October, winning Knockout of the Night and Submission of the Night awards in the process.

“Cowboy” has proven himself to not only be one of the most entertaining young fighters in the sport, but also as someone to pay very close attention to in the lightweight championship picture.

He is now set to compete in what will be his fifth fight of the year at UFC 141 on December 30 in Las Vegas. There he will battle fellow star lightweight Nate Diaz in what is expected to be another classic battle in the 155-pound division.

This type of activity is relatively common on the smaller circuits, but it is almost unheard of in the UFC, especially when we’re talking about a fighter who has quite a bit to lose by not walking out of these fights with a win on his record.

If he would have lost one of these fights, he would’ve dropped significantly down the lightweight rankings. Instead, he just continues to pile up win after win, impressing us more and more with every performance.

It’s not just that he is winning, though. It’s also how he’s winning that has been so impressive. Cerrone has finished four of his opponents during his current six-fight win streak and absolutely none of them have been “cans.” They’ve all been quality fighters who have the potential to become or have already been highly-ranked fighters.

Cerrone has been incredible in 2011, but this kind of performance has been commonplace throughout his career. Now 17-3-1, Cerrone’s only three career losses have come in title fights, one of which came against Jamie Varner in a fight he lost by technical decision after hitting Varner with an illegal knee in the fifth round. Varner was unable to continue and the fight went to the judges’ scorecards, giving Varner the very close decision victory.

Cerrone later rectified that loss in September 2010 at WEC 51 when he defeated Varner by decision.

His only other two losses came at the hands of former WEC lightweight champion and current UFC lightweight No. 1 contender Benson Henderson. Henderson defeated Cerrone at both WEC 43 and later at WEC 48.

Though he was still very talented during those fights, Cerrone hardly even looks like the same fighter today. He proved that at UFC 137 when he crushed Dennis Siver, another top-level lightweight, in less than half of a round.

The problem is that Cerrone is in arguably the most stacked division in the history of the sport right now. With fighters like Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard, Melvin Guillard, Clay Guida, Benson Henderson, Jim Miller and soon-to-be Gilbert Melendez, it can be hard to remember that there are guys like Cerrone who are staking their own claim for a title shot in the coming months.

The reality is that there are other fighters who are currently ranked higher than him, but absolutely no one has been hotter than Donald Cerrone in 2011. If he is able to make it to 5-0 in 2011 with a victory over Nate Diaz at UFC 141, he will likely be within striking distance of getting a shot at the UFC lightweight title.

Don’t sleep on the 28-year-old stud from Jackson’s Submission Fighting because if all goes well at UFC 141, we could be looking at the real contender for Frankie Edgar’s 155-pound crown in 2012.