Donald Cerrone was viewed as a heavy favorite going in to his bout with Melvin Guillard at UFC 150, and he didn’t disappoint, knocking out his opponent just over one minute into the fight.
It was an important fight for both guys, as they look to move back up the ladder in the competitive division after recent losses. Cerrone had dropped a fight to Nate Diaz while Guillard lost to Jim Miller and Joe Lauzon.
But only one of them could walk out of the Octagon with the victory, and Cerrone was the one who stepped up to earn it. He has now won two consecutive fights after knocking off Jeremy Stephens back in May.
Cerrone was almost exclusively a submission specialist in the early portion of his MMA career, and while that’s obviously still a big part of his approach, he’s added more versatility recently to make him a tougher fighter to face.
It’s the type of adjustment that should help the 29-year-old American have a much better chance to make his way up the lightweight ranks. One-dimensional fighters can survive for a while, but as the competition gets tougher, it’s difficult to win with a singular approach.
Give credit to Cerrone for recognizing that and working to get better. It’s still a work in progress, but he’s trending in the right direction once again.
The news isn’t so positive for Guillard. He’s now lost three of his past four fights and none of them came against truly elite competition. Every loss digs a bigger hole he will eventually have to get out of at some point.
It was a tough matchup for him, but the good fighters always find a way to win even when the opponent’s strengths are an issue. Guillard wasn’t able to do that on Saturday night.
Although he has plenty of talent, as he has shown throughout his career, he seems to have hit a lull recently and can’t figure out a way to end it. He has to adjust his approach in one way or another to start getting back in the win column consistently.
Cerrone made sure he wasn’t able to start any type of winning streak at UFC 150 and should emerge as one of the night’s biggest winners.
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