Author: Chad Dundas

Rose Namajunas Pulled off ‘The Impossible’ by Taking out Unbeatable Joanna Champ

A few minutes after stunning Joanna Jedrzejczyk to win the UFC strawweight title, Rose Namajunas still couldn’t quite believe what she’d done.
“It feels like a movie right now,” Namajunas told color commentator Joe Rogan inside the Octagon after …

A few minutes after stunning Joanna Jedrzejczyk to win the UFC strawweight title, Rose Namajunas still couldn’t quite believe what she’d done.

“It feels like a movie right now,” Namajunas told color commentator Joe Rogan inside the Octagon after the particulars had been announced and UFC President Dana White had slung the title over her shoulder.

She was not alone.

Namajunas’ first-round stoppage of Jedrzejczyk on Saturday at UFC 217 sent shockwaves through the MMA world. Namajunas had come to their bout at Madison Square Garden as the biggest underdog on the pay-per-view card, while Jedrzejczyk was ensconced as one of the fight company’s most dominant champions.

But all it took was three minutes, three seconds to turn all that on its head.


Namajunas surprised Jedrzejczyk in the stand-up game early, dropping her to the canvas with a jab-cross combination roughly two minutes into the opening stanza of their fight. That time, Jedrzejczyk was able to get back to her feet, squirming away from Namajunas’ ground assault and using the cage to stand up.

When Namajunas caught her again less than a minute later, Jedrzejczyk was not so lucky.

It was a charging left hook that put the champ down for good. As Jedrzejczyk crumpled face-first on the mat against the fence, Namajunas poured on strikes from the top, ultimately forcing her opponent to tap out from the punishment.

The outcome was shocking for a couple of reasons.

First, because Jedrzejczyk had quickly established herself as a UFC fan favorite and the class of the organization’s 115-pound division. This was to be her sixth consecutive title defense, which would have moved her into a tie with Ronda Rousey for the most successful defenses of all time for a women’s champion.

She had jetted through a series of previous challengers that included the best contenders the strawweight division could offer. She defeated a smattering of strikers and grapplers while demonstrating a quirky, off-beat personal style and a singular viciousness that set her wholly apart in the world of women’s MMA. 

Secondly, if Namajunas was thought to have any chance at all against Jedrzejczyk, it wasn’t supposed to be in the striking department.

Since coming to the UFC in 2014, Jedrzejczyk’s bread and butter had been her technical and deadly accurate kickboxing game. By contrast, Namajunas’ skills—while perhaps better rounded—were not thought to be as sharp in that area.

Most expected Namajunas to try to ground Jedrzejczyk—to put her on the mat and attempt outgrapple her en route to a submission.

Instead, she beat the champion at her own game.

Jedrzejczyk had been brimming with confidence leading up to the fight. She taunted Namajunas throughout their pre-fight media obligations, even pressing her fist lightly against Namajunas’ face during the weigh-in.

When it was over, Namajunas indicated she hoped to strike a different tone with her own title reign.

“In many ways, Joanna showed me how to be a champion but also showed me how not to behave as a champion,” she said in an official UFC release. “I hope tonight changed some of her opinions about me.”

This was Namajunas’ second time fighting for the UFC title.

Her first chance came in the finale of The Ultimate Fighter Season 20, when she lost to Carla Esparza via third-round submission. At the time, Namajunas was just 22 years old and making her official Octagon debut after just shy of two years as a professional fighter.

Three months later, Jedrzejczyk defeated Esparza to become champion. Meanwhile, Namajunas went 4-1 during her next five fights, reclaiming No. 1 contender status with a second-round submission of Michelle Waterson in April.

During her second crack at UFC gold, Namajunas was not to be denied, though it didn’t look that way leading up to the fight.

She hadn’t responded to much of Jedrzejczyk’s trash talk at the media events. On fight night, Namajunas looked nervous during her walk to the cage, and her hand visibly shook as UFC PA announcer Bruce Buffer made her official introduction.

As the two met in the center of the cage for their final referee instructions, Jedrzejczyk crept right up in Namajunas’ face. When they separated, Namajunas appeared to shove her away.

The nervousness seemed to evaporate as soon as the fight started, with Namajunas landing a good low kick and a counter left hand in the early going. Jedrzejczyk also let loose with some of her own trademark ferocious combinations, but Namajunas was not flustered.

She continued to press forward and bring the action to the champion until finally forcing the stoppage.

Where the two fighters go from here is anyone’s best guess.

Jedrzejczyk had been so good and popular as champion that an immediate rematch could be in the offing. She has also talked about moving up to women’s flyweight when that division becomes a full-time addition to the UFC’s roster on Dec. 1.

With Namajunas as champion, strawweight’s top contenders—who had been picked off one by one during Jedrzejczyk’s reign—will all enjoy new life. Jessica Andrade’s victory over Claudia Gadelha in September solidified her status as No. 1 contender.

As the only woman to beat Namajunas since her loss to Esparza in December 2014, Karolina Kowalkiewicz could also make a good case. She took out Namajunas via split decision at UFC 201, and after back-to-back losses to Jedrzejczyk and Gadleha, she bounced back with a victory over Jodie Esquibel on Oct. 21.

Smart money may be on a rematch, however, as Namajunas and Jedrzejczyk still comprise the UFC’s best-known and best-liked 115-pound female fighters.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

History Will Remember Michael Bisping Kindly, Even If UFC Fans Don’t

Michael Bisping isn’t here to make friends.
Aside from pure longevity, perhaps the current middleweight champion’s biggest strength throughout his 11-year, 26-fight career in the Octagon has been an ability to turn every fight into a blood …

Michael Bisping isn’t here to make friends.

Aside from pure longevity, perhaps the current middleweight champion’s biggest strength throughout his 11-year, 26-fight career in the Octagon has been an ability to turn every fight into a blood feud.

Expect Saturday’s meeting with Georges St-Pierre in the main event of UFC 217 to be no different.

As one of the earliest adopters of a pro-wrestling-style heel persona in the modern UFC, Bisping made himself a fighter people loved to hate years before Brock Lesnar, Chael Sonnen or Ronda Rousey got in on the act. In so doing, he positioned himself as a dependable asset during a critical time in the fight company’s rise.

Simply put, Bisping could sell a fight against anybody. He’s been brash, he’s been abrasive, and—with the benefit of more than a decade of hindsight now on the beginning of his run—we can confidently say he’s been much better than expected. 

Couple it all with his surprising run with the 185-pound title, during a late-career surge that already includes wins over Anderson Silva, Luke Rockhold and Dan Henderson, and it’s increasingly likely history will remember Bisping kindly, even if fight fans didn’t fully appreciate his contributions to the sport as they were happening.

The 38-year-old Manchester, England, product bluntly summed-up his love-hate relationship with his critics this week at Wednesday’s open workouts at Madison Square Garden.

“Boo me? Cheer me? F–k you,” a smiling Bisping said to the gathered crowd, after taking the mic from UFC interviewer Megan Olivi.

 

Most of those in attendance at MSG seemed to be laughing along with Bisping‘s performance at this point. Now that he’s comfortably ensconced as one of the UFC’s longest-standing veterans, most hardcore fight aficionados are hip to his game.

The Count has set about working his typical magic against St-Pierre during the lead-up to what is expected to be one of the UFC’s biggest fights of 2017. The brash Brit began needling the mild-mannered former welterweight champ even before their on-again, off-again fight was made official for this weekend.

Bisping arrived late to the pair’s initial press conference in May, strolling on stage in a T-shirt and leather jacket, picking up his microphone to cut St-Pierre off mid-answer and announce: “No one gives a f–k, Georges.”

From there, Bisping kept it up through a series of media events, mocking St-Pierre on every topic from his reluctance to fight Anderson Silva during the prime of their careers to St-Pierre’s extended hiatus from MMA following a UFC 167 win over Johny Hendricks in November 2013.

“He didn’t want to fight [anymore] because Johny Hendricks hit him in the head so many times, he thought he’d been abducted by aliens …,” Bisping said in August, via MMA Junkie’s Steven Marrocco and Simon Samano. “Dude, I’m going to hit you so many times, you’re going to think you’re going to disappear on the mothership.”

That media gathering concluded with a face-off during which Bisping reached out to squeeze St-Pierre’s bicep and GSP shoved him back.

So, has Bisping succeeded in rattling the French-Canadian phenom during the protracted run-up to their bout? That remains to be seen.

What is already known is that Bisping has been one of the UFC’s most consistent performers—both in and out of the cage—for more than a decade. Any realistic discussion of the man’s career at this point must admit he’s exceeded expectations at every turn.

Bisping had already established himself as one of the best fighters in the UK by the time he won the third season of the UFC’s Ultimate Fighter reality show as a light heavyweight in 2006. Afterward, five of his first 10 UFC fights took place in England, which made him an important cog in the organization’s early efforts at international expansion.

 

Still, Bisping was largely underestimated as an in-cage performer throughout most of his career. Even after dropping from 205 pounds to the middleweight division in 2008 he remained one of the UFC’s most called-out fighters. Detractors said he lacked power in his hands and that he’d benefitted from advantageous matchmaking decisions early in his career.

Truth is, though? Most of those people who singled Bisping out for a fight ended up on the short end of it.

Fast-forward to 2017 and Bisping’s 20 wins in the Octagon stand as the most all-time in UFC history. His 20-7 overall organizational record is also better than anyone likely would have forecasted a decade ago.

He’s beefed with legends like Wanderlei Silva, Henderson and Vitor Belfort and gotten under the skin of championship-level performers like Rockhold and Rashad Evans. He’s also elevated fights with bit-part performers like Jorge Rivera and C.B. Dollaway into halfway interesting attractions.

The bad guy act has been so successful because it’s entirely believable. Bisping’s cheeky one-liners and cocky strut come across as parts of his normal personality, just with the volume turned up a bit.

On the side, he’s fashioned himself into a decent on-air broadcaster for Fox Sports and landed acting roles in a number of minor films—even making an appearance earlier this year in Showtime’s Twin Peaks revival.

Oh yeah, and he’s got a great chance to retire as UFC middleweight champion, too.

If Bisping beats St-Pierre this weekend—where he’s going off as a slight favorite, according to Odds Shark—he’ll have attained one of combat sports’ most precious commodities: The option to walk away on top and on his own terms.

Prior to this bout, he has by turns hinted at retirement and said he’ll carry on for at least a little while longer.

Either way, Bisping’s body of work is easily good enough to warrant consideration as a top-20 fighter all-time in the UFC.

Unless things go terribly wrong for him from here, history will likely tell his story in a more positive light than anyone—especially the haters—ever imagined.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Conor McGregor Apologizes for Using Homophobic Slur Against Another UFC Fighter

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor apologized this week for his use of a homophobic slur backstage at a recent UFC event.
During an appearance on RTE One’s The Late Late Show, McGregor said he used the word in the heat of the moment while con…

UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor apologized this week for his use of a homophobic slur backstage at a recent UFC event.

During an appearance on RTE One’s The Late Late Show, McGregor said he used the word in the heat of the moment while consoling teammate Artem Lobov following Lobov’s loss to Andre Fili at UFC Fight Night 118 on Oct. 21.

“I witnessed him lose a … potential career-ending fight in a manner where the opponent was stalling and running away and I was upset,” McGregor said. “I was whispering in his ear and speaking on that and I said what I said. I meant no disrespect to … [anybody in the] LGBT community.”

Soon after the fight card from Gdansk, Poland—which aired exclusively on the UFC’s digital streaming service—a video emerged of McGregor and Lobov walking backstage after the fight. McGregor leaned close to his ear and repeatedly used the slur during a conversation he apparently thought wouldn’t be overheard.

“I thought you were going to sleep him,” McGregor said to Lobov. “All I’m saying, he’s a f—-t. I never knew he was a f—-t.” (Warning: Video is NSFW.)

McGregor had attended the event as a fan and during Lobov’s fight, he could be seen cageside boisterously cheering on his cohort from SBG Gym in Ireland. At one point, McGregor had to be warned to sit down by referee Mark Goddard.

During his television appearance, McGregor said he wanted to apologize and move past his use of the homophobic slur.

“I just have to say sorry for what I said …  and try and move on from it,” McGregor said.

In the past, McGregor had championed Ireland’s efforts to legalize gay marriage, both during his public appearances and on social media:

The backstage incident with Lobov, however, certainly wasn’t the first time he has made waves with objectionable language.

As far back as his fight with Dennis Siver in January 2015, the 29-year-old Dublin native has had to defend himself from charges of insensitivity. In the lead-up to that bout, McGregor apologized for referring to Siver, a Russian-born fighter of German descent, as “a Nazi,” according to Bleacher Report’s Hunter Homistek.

During his protracted feud with Brazilian fighter Jose Aldo over the UFC men’s featherweight title, McGregor also boasted he would “turn [Aldo’s] favela into a Reebok sweatshop,” per Yahoo’s Dave Doyle.

In 2017, during the highly publicized media tour before his boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr., McGregor used racist language to taunt Mayweather by saying, “Dance for me, boy.” At the final public event before their fight, Mayweather dropped a homophobic slur of his own, directed at McGregor.

Mayweather went on to win their bout via 10th round TKO. The event was promoted as one of the biggest sporting events of the year and was hailed as a major success on pay-per-view by its organizers. However, the fight came under fire from critics for the lowbrow nature of much of the lead-up.

McGregor is currently in talks to return to the UFC for his next fight.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Lyoto Machida’s Crushing KO Loss to Derek Brunson Stokes Fears About His Future

They say sometimes in combat sports, you show up one night and you’re just too old.
For Lyoto Machida, the process has perhaps been more gradual than that, but the end result no less sobering.
That was the impression left by Saturday’s first-round knoc…

They say sometimes in combat sports, you show up one night and you’re just too old.

For Lyoto Machida, the process has perhaps been more gradual than that, but the end result no less sobering.

That was the impression left by Saturday’s first-round knockout loss to Derek Brunson in the main event of UFC Fight Night 119 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

It was meant to be a homecoming of sorts for Machida, the first time the 39-year-old former light heavyweight champion had fought in Brazil since a December 2014 victory over CB Dollaway. Instead, Brunson stunned an announced crowd of 10,265 into silence with a thunderous left hook just shy of two minutes, 30 seconds into the event’s featured attraction.

The sight of Machida’s body crashing prone to the canvas ended another of the UFC’s notoriously raucous trips to Brazil on a somber note:

For his part, Brunson sounded nearly as shocked at the result, but he said he started fast because he didn’t want to take the chance of handing this fight to the judges in Machida’s home country.

“I did not expect a quick finish, but I knew I didn’t want to leave it to decision,” Brunson said in a release. “I like Brazil, this was a great experience. The fans supported him, I wouldn’t expect differently. But they could not enter the Octagon, so it didn’t make a difference at the end of the day.”

Now begins the process of sorting through the ashes to see what might be left for Machida to do inside the Octagon just a few months away from turning 40 years old.

He came into this fight mired in a 1-3 slump. This bout also marked his return from a controversial 18-month suspension after failing a UFC drug test for an over-the-counter dietary supplement.

Machida said prior to meeting Brunson that the suspension had actually been a positive development for him. He said it allowed him to rest, recharge and change some aspects of his training.

Once the fight began, however, he looked anything but recharged.

Since arriving in the Octagon in 2007, Machida blazed a trail based on his unique karate-based striking style. He prioritized agility, elusiveness and counterpunching over the straight-ahead slugging of many of his peers.

The unorthodox approach powered him to a 15-0 start to his career, which included winning the 205-pound title from Rashad Evans via second-round KO at UFC 98 in May 2009. Fast-forward almost a decade and it’s appropriate to say Machida was ahead of his time, now that fighters like Conor McGregor and Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson are employing many of the same techniques.

But all along there were questions about how his style would age.

There were times when he appeared devastating, crafting six KO wins in the UFC—including both the highlight-reel Evans KO and a crane-kick stoppage of Randy Couture at UFC 129 in April 2011.

In other instances, Machida’s patient, prowling style receded into listlessness. Five of his first eight fights in the Octagon went to decision. Later he would drop lackluster judges verdicts to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Phil Davis and Chris Weidman.

Occasionally, it felt as though his stoic demeanor and careful approach led him to give away rounds, sometimes fights. Given that it was based almost entirely on his athleticism, his ability to avoid his opponent’s attacks and then land his own, observers wondered how Machida would hold up as he trudged into his mid-to-late 30s.

Now we know that those concerns were well-placed.

The Brunson knockout was Machida’s third straight stoppage loss and came in the wake of a third-round knockout by Yoel Romero in June 2015. Since dropping to middleweight after the Davis loss in 2013, Machida has gone a middling 3-4 and let’s just say the performances aren’t getting any more competitive.

Against Brunson, Machida came out of his corner looking flat-footed and a step slow. He managed to avoid some of his 33-year-old American opponent’s initial strikes, even landing his own left hand or two during the fight’s initial exchanges.

But as the opening round approached its halfway point, Machida attempted to counter a pawing right while the two traded swings near the middle of the cage. Brunson slipped Machida’s punch and fired a winging left hook over the top that caught him flush on the jaw.

As Machida stumbled away, Brunson landed another left—this one around the temple—that put Machida down on all fours. The Brazilian still had his wits about him, but as he attempted to scramble to guard, Brunson fired a half-dozen more lefts. The third one found Machida’s jaw again.

This time it knocked him cold.

The quiet that filled the Ginasio do Ibirapuera arena was compounded by the fact that in the previous fight, the crowd had witnessed Colby Covington defeat Sao Paolo native Demian Maia via unanimous decision and then take some swipes at Brazilian fans and their country in his post-fight interview.

Make no mistake, though, it wasn’t pretty to see Machida lying there like that.

The Brunson loss marks the first time Machida has been defeated by an opponent who is neither a UFC champion nor unilaterally regarded as an elite contender.

Brunson came into the contest No. 7 in the UFC’s official rankings and was the slight favorite, according to OddsShark, but since coming to the Octagon from Strikeforce in 2012, his career has been a mix of highs and lows.

Count this victory as his best yet.

Brunson is 7-2 since 2014 and has put back-to-back wins after consecutive losses to current interim champ Robert Whittaker and all-time great Anderson Silva.

When it was over, he used his time on the mic to call out another returning former champion.

“Luke Rockhold, what’s up, baby?” Brunson said to UFC commentator Daniel Cormier in the cage. “Where you at? Let’s run this.”

For Machida, however, the loss only heightens concerns about how the aging former champ will fare moving forward.

In the UFC, the point when a fighter should start to consider hanging up their gloves and when they actually do often don’t intersect. Here’s hoping Machida can take an unorthodox approach to that situation as well.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Is the Legendary Lyoto Machida, Once the UFC’s Karate Kid, on His Last Legs?

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida is back on Saturday, returning to the Octagon after an 18-month absence stemming from a failed drug test.
But for how much longer can he soldier on?
Machida isn’t the UFC’s karate kid anymore. The guy…

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida is back on Saturday, returning to the Octagon after an 18-month absence stemming from a failed drug test.

But for how much longer can he soldier on?

Machida isn’t the UFC’s karate kid anymore. The guy whose elusive, pinpoint striking will go down as the forefather to a generation of unorthodox sluggers such as Conor McGregor and Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson is suddenly 39 years old.

Machida approaches this weekend’s middleweight main event against Derek Brunson at UFC Fight Night 119 in Sao Paolo, Brazil, mired in his second 1-3 skid since 2010. Once you consider his recent year-and-a-half-long suspension for testing positive for a banned substance in an over-the-counter dietary supplement, this fight shapes up as a must-win.

That is, if The Dragon wants to stave off the notion he’s on a downward slope toward retirement.

For his part, Machida insists his recent doping ban—perhaps an example of how the UFC’s well-meaning drug-testing protocol can occasionally go too far—has actually done wonders for him. He said it allowed him to refresh, to switch up some of his training and, he hopes, add some longevity to the back end of his career.

“I needed this time away from it all,” Machida said recently, per the Daily Star‘s Kevin Francis. “In all honesty, if I had continued the way I was going, I would probably have been retired.”

It was Machida who arguably first made karate cool in the UFC, making his Octagon debut in 2007 having already become something of a legend in MMA chat rooms and on message boards. He’d gone 8-0 fighting in Japan and Brazil, defeating once and future UFC stars Stephan Bonnar, Rich Franklin and BJ Penn.

When his performance contact with manager and Japanese pro wrestling legend Antonio Inoki expired, Machida made the jump to America—first to the failed WFA and then the UFC. His early Octagon appearances proved he was worthy of the internet hype, as he went 8-0 and captured the 205-pound title with an emphatic second-round knockout of Rashad Evans at UFC 98.

But perhaps that fast start sent our expectations soaring unreasonably high. During the victory celebration following the Evans KO, the UFC declared it the dawn of the Machida Era. Unfortunately, that era would be very short-lived when Machida lost the title to Mauricio Rua almost a year later.

Afterward, Machida would remain a formidable presence in the Octagon, but he would never recapture the fearsome consistency of that early UFC run.

While his hunt-and-peck karate style could sometimes be devastating, it could also recede into listlessness. After just such a decision loss to Phil Davis in 2013, Machida dropped to middleweight and has gone a middling 3-3 since.

Those losses, however, were nothing to sneeze at, coming against 185-pound stalwarts Chris Weidman, Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero.

To hear Machida himself tell it, these roller-coaster last few years were a physical and emotional grind for him. He hopes it’s another thing that the downtime of his recent suspension has helped him fix.

“I think there was something wrong in my mind,” he said, via Francis. “I just kept doing the same thing but I was expecting different results. I saw [the suspension] as a moment that I needed to step away a bit. I needed this hiatus to grow, too. I took some time for myself.”

It is here that Machida’s perhaps fading career meets up with Brunson, in a bout where the former light heavyweight titlist still has a lot to prove.

Brunson has been a good, but not great middleweight contender since coming to the UFC from Strikeforce in 2012. All told, he’s put up an impressive-looking 8-3 record, but he’s lost all of his highest-profile bouts—to Romero, current interim champion Robert Whittaker and Anderson Silva.

Perhaps it’s that most recent loss to Silva that makes Brunson seem like an appealing opponent for Machida at this stage. After having a January 2015 victory over Nick Diaz overturned because of his own positive steroid test, Silva came into the Brunson fight officially winless since 2012.

Their fight was close, but Silva eventually secured a unanimous-decision win. In the aftermath, his reputation isn’t fully rehabilitated, but the future looks much brighter for him. Silva could even snag a lucrative upcoming fight with Georges St-Pierre or a rematch with Michael Bisping, depending on how things shake out between those two at UFC 217.

It could be that Machida is hoping for a similar turnaround.

Brunson is a quality fighter but also the sort of guy the old Machida would take care of pretty easily. The 33-year-old American has good wrestling skills and powerful striking, but he occasionally becomes overly aggressive and leaves himself open for counters.

If Machida’s still got it, Brunson’s style should be one he can exploit. An inability to do that, on the other hand, might raise some troubling questions.

Overall, Machida’s style has been heavily reliant on athleticism. He needs to be able to move around the Octagon in order to make it work. He needs to have the quickness to avoid his opponent’s punches, as well as the reflexes and precision to land his own.

Frankly, it’s a style that may not age well, and a loss or even a particularly close fight against Brunson might be read as a sign he’s nearing the finish line of his notable—and notably strange—career.

Even the Karate Kid gets old.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone on Pace to Capture UFC’s All-Time Wins Record

The UFC’s all-time wins record might be a transitive beast for the next few weeks.
An odd wrinkle in the fight company’s upcoming schedule has all four of the fighters with the most career Octagon victories in action between now and Nov. 4. That run be…

The UFC’s all-time wins record might be a transitive beast for the next few weeks.

An odd wrinkle in the fight company’s upcoming schedule has all four of the fighters with the most career Octagon victories in action between now and Nov. 4. That run begins Saturday, when Donald Cerrone (19 UFC wins) takes on upstart Darren Till in the main event of UFC Fight Night 118.

If Cerrone beats Till, it’ll move him into a tie with middleweight champion Michael Bisping (20) as the winningest competitors in UFC history. Depending how it goes for Cerrone, it also gives him a chance to pad a few of his other already impressive UFC numbers:

On Oct. 28, Damien Maia (19 victories) can make it a three-way tie atop the wins leaderboard, as he takes on Colby Covington at UFC Fight Night 119.

As if that weren’t already enough, Bisping could retake the overall lead with a win over former welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre (19 wins) in that pair’s superfight at UFC 217 on Nov. 4.

If not? Then St-Pierre could make it a four-man logjam in the history books, with everybody possibly tied up at 20 wins apiece.

As you can see, this under-the-radar race to see who can win the most fights ever in the UFC is neck and neck.

The bad news for the field, however, is that Cerrone has the inside track to ultimately come out ahead.

Considering the breakneck pace at which he fights, The Cowboy is on pace to stand alone with the all-time wins record by the time he hangs up his gloves.

Cerrone has been the UFC’s resident wild man since arriving in the Octagon from the WEC in 2011. Since then, he’s set a torrid pace, fighting five times in 2011 and then four times each year from 2013 through 2016. Along the way, he’s won 12 of the organization’s performance-based fight-night bonuses while putting up an overall record of 19-6.

The Colorado native’s “work hard, play hard” ethos has made him so well-liked that Cerrone has created his own cottage industry inside the UFC. Though he’s fought once for the lightweight championship and consistently faces top competition, he exists on his own plane, outside the rat race of the UFC’s divisional title pictures.

Fans love Cerrone regardless if he’s winning or losing. They see his love for the sport and Clint Eastwood-style, down-for-whatever squint and latch onto it.

Now 34 years old, Cerrone knows his high-octane approach can’t go on forever. By his own estimation, he’ll be done before he turns 40.

“My three things that I really, really want, that I think the fight game needs, because I’m ending my career in three, four more years. I need some retirement,” Cerone said in late 2016, via MMAjunkie’s Mike Bohn and Ken Hathaway. “A pension. Some kind of health care. Those are three things I think the sport really needs, so that’s what I’m looking for.”

Even with that limited window, however, Cerrone likely still has the upper hand on Bisping, St-Pierre and Maia.

Maia is already 39 and almost certainly nearing the end of his career. While a couple years younger, both Bisping and St-Pierre have acknowledged they too won’t be around forever.

For St-Pierre, 36, this fight marks his return from his first extended hiatus from the sport. Following a hard-fought welterweight victory over Johny Hendricks in November 2013, GSP walked away from MMA, citing the various psychological pressures of being champion.

Now he’s back, but it remains unclear for how long.

Bisping, 38, has gone as far as to say UFC 217 might be his last fight.

“I think the career I’ve had, the years I’ve been in the UFC, the injuries I’ve had, the ups and downs, getting close to title fights and all of this, there’s a possibility—this might be my last ever fight,” Bisping said recently, via MMA Fighting’s Shaun Al-Shatti. “I don’t know if I’ll fight again after this. So, what a way to go out if it is.”

In true Bisping fashion, however, The Count has also waffled on that point.

Regardless, it’s unlikely either Bisping or St-Pierre has anywhere near the number of fights left in the tank as Cerrone. Even if Cowboy plans to call it quits in a few years, it’s not unthinkable he might have dozen more fights planned, especially if he’s intent on building a nest egg for himself.

That means Cerrone is very likely to become the winningest fighter in UFC history by the time he’s all done.

Assuming that does happen, how long could Cerrone be reasonably assured of holding onto the record? That depends. There is a gaggle of other active fighters within striking distance of the all-time mark.

Anderson Silva (42) and Jim Miller (34) each have 17 UFC wins, and each has a fight coming up. Silva takes on Kelvin Gastelum on Nov. 25, and Miller fights Francisco Trinaldo on Oct. 28.

Jon Jones (30), Frankie Edgar (36), Rafael Dos Anjos (32), Gleison Tibau (34) and Diego Sanchez (35) all have 16 UFC wins. Edgar, Sanchez and Dos Anjos all have upcoming bouts scheduled, but Jones and Tibau are on the bench dealing with the fallout from failed drug tests.

Tibau is already serving a two-year ban handed down in early 2016.

Jones, who might be the most interesting case of the above group, still faces an uncertain future. The former light heavyweight champion might well already have the all-time wins record sewn up if he hadn’t spent significant periods of his career dealing with self-inflicted crises.

Jones has fought just once each year since 2014, and the worst-case scenario following his second positive test for performance-enhancing drugs has him staring down the possibility of a four-year suspension. Obviously, how that positive test is ultimately handled by the UFC will have a lot to do with Jones’ future.

Other active notables with a chance of catching Cerrone include men’s flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson (15 wins) and men’s featherweight champ Max Holloway (14). Both those guys are still very much in their athletic primes, but still far enough away that it would take a few years for them to catch up.

For now, we’re left to assume that Cerrone has the best shot to retire as the UFC’s iron man, and that would be a fitting accolade to cap the career of The Cowboy.

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