Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone is one tough SOB. Cowboy has always had an “anyone, anywhere, anyplace” attitude and built his reputation based on taking on some of the hardest fights and on short notice in many instances. Sunday’s UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Medeiros victory added to Cerrone’s tough-guy legend.
There are two versions of the same fighter; there’s Donald and then there’s Cowboy. When Donald shows up, he gets his ass kicked (i.e. Diaz, Masvidal, and Till fights). But when Cowboy takes the cage, get your popcorn ready because this guy is a fucking rockstar. Against Yancy “The Kid” Medeiros, fans got to see the real Cowboy Cerrone back in the octagon and he did not disappoint. Cerrone won by way of knockout at the end of the first round, snapping the three-fight losing streak for the Colorado native, in which he had gotten starched in two of the three contests.
Medeiros and Cerrone aimed to please the Austin crowd with a Texas-style shootout from the outset. Cowboy is a busy fighter who has the highest rate of strikes landed per minute (SLPM) amongst any active welterweight fighter and Medeiros is not far off that pace himself. As noted by Jimmy Smith and company in the cage-side commentary, these two men had a great deal of love and respect for each other.
In the build up to the fight, both contestants acknowledged that this would be a kill or be killed type of fight. They even gave each “the nod” as if to say, “let’s stand in the center and bang it out until one of us can’t go on,” and that is exactly what they did.
One example of the aforementioned mutual respect came midway through the round when Yancy slipped and Cowboy allowed for him to get up, rather than finishing him while in a compromised position. Then another example of respect that went beyond the strokes of ordinary was when Medeiros hopped the cage the give a hug and kiss to Cowboy’s grandma who was in attendance.
Medeiros proved to be a worth adversary, but the night belonged to Cowboy. “The Kid” fought hard and was able to find some success with the stand game early, but he did not appear to have anywhere near the sting behind his punches that Cowboy did. Cowboy was crisp and found his mark early and often.
Cerrone has padded his resume with his 20th victory in the UFC, which certainly helps him present case that may be worthy of future a UFC Hall of Fame berth. He is tied for the most career wins in UFC history with other Hall of Fame locks George St. Pierre and Michael Bisping.
Now that Cowboy has climbed back atop that victory horse, it is certainly interesting to see what the future holds in store for the 34-year-old. Cerrone was in line for a potential title fight prior to his three-fight skid starting with the brutal knockout loss against Masvidal in front of his hometown crowd in Denver, Colo.
-Jordan Kurtz AKA Kurtzy F is a founding member of Comments From The Peanut Gallery.
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