Donald Cerrone is a clear fan favorite when it comes to the Octagon and one of the main reasons for it is how often Cerrone fights. He first entered the UFC in February of 2011 and has fought a total of 16 times since that date. He will now fill in for Eddie Alvarez against Benson Henderson at UFC Fight Night Boston, just 15 days after beating Myles Jury at UFC 182. He has a wild style in the way he fights and wins fight bonus after fight bonus for his highlight reel performances.
Alvarez is out and Cowboy is in against Ben Henderson for UFC Fight Night Boston LIVE and FREE on @FOXSports1. http://t.co/W0WC3DhoMx
— Dana White (@danawhite) January 6, 2015
Cerrone had an entertaining fight last Saturday against Myles Jury and was hard on himself for his performance. He is clearly out there to put on a show and dominate. At the end of the Jury fight, Cerrone threw visibly telegraphed kicks to Jury while Jury was on his back. When asked about the kicks at the post-fight press conference, Cerrone mentioned that they were “F**k You” kicks and he was just frustrated because he felt like Jury was running from him the whole fight and not pressing the action.
He also mentioned to Dana White at the post-fight press conference that he wanted to fight in Colorado in February. It turns out that February would be too far away for Cowboy as it was announced late yesterday that he would get to avenge his loss to former UFC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson.
Cerrone is known for fighting anyone at anytime and is not afraid to call out other fighters. Another fighter that shares this trait with Cerrone is Michael Bisping. “The Count” has earned millions in the UFC. The reason for his high earnings is the amount of times that Bisping has fought, along with the amount of bonuses that he has received. Bisping has never fought for a title, but fighting a lot clearly pays off. Cerrone is definitely the most high profile fighter in the lightweight division that has not fought for the UFC title yet.
One speculated bout that had been talked about was a title eliminator between Cerrone and Khabib Nurmagomedov. With Pettis being lined up against Rafael dos Anjos in March, Cerrone vs. Nurmagomedov made sense, but now Cerrone gets to go right back at it against Henderson. The thing is about Cerrone is that he does not like to wait for fights. He wants to fight as much as possible and make as much money as possible at the same time. This is why the crowd loves Cerrone.
Another factor that makes Cerrone so popular is his affiliation with NASCAR and Budweiser. Cerrone appeals to the country music loving American and has great charisma to go with it. He rides bulls, goes wakeboarding, climbs mountains and does all sorts of crazy things and that is why his nickname is “Cowboy”. He has horses and lives in the desert, but he is not a boring cowboy by any means.
Dana White always gets worried about Cerrone being an adrenaline junkie, but luckily Cerrone has stayed quite healthy in his UFC career and does not get injured much. It is as if Cerrone rides a wave of confidence and that may be one of the many reasons that he would risk a title shot just to fight in the octagon as soon as he can.
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