Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone’s ascent up the lightweight ranks continued Saturday night with an impressive unanimous decision victory over UFC newcomer Eddie Alvarez at UFC 178.
MMA Junkie tweeted the scores for the fight:
After an extended feeling out period for both fighters highlighted by leg kicks, Alvarez showed the explosiveness that created the hype surrounding his debut. The former Bellator champion rocked Cerrone with a flurry of dirty boxing.
But putting away a veteran contender like Cerrone is not an easy task. Cowboy not only survived the flurry, but rebounded to mount some offense as the first frame came to its conclusion.
Round 2 opened with Cerrone maintaining the distance and utilizing leg and body kicks to seize the momentum. With Alvarez lead left leg clearly affected by Cerrone’s kicks, Alvarez looked to take the fight to the mat, but was unsuccessful.
With each fighter seemingly claiming a round, the final round provided the stage for a dash to the finish. Neither fighter failed to live up to their end of the bargain. Despite apparent limited motion due to the leg kicks Alvarez put together some combinations, but it was once again Cowboy who was able to land the more impressive strikes.
With 1:30 left in the final frame another leg kick from Cerrone buckled Alvarez and finish the fight with top control.
Alvarez made quite a name for himself at 155 pounds with Bellator, but some were skeptical about his ability to make the transition to a higher level of competition. The Silent Assassin was thrown into the fire immediately and ran into a buzz saw in the form of Cerrone.
The Alvarez vs. Cerrone encounter was one of the most highly anticipated fights in quite some time. Both combatants have a penchant for exciting the crowd, and they didn’t disappoint in that regard. According to UFC Tonight, Alvarez knew what he was getting himself into when he signed up to fight Cerrone:
While Alvarez was stepping into a difficult situation against someone as aggressive as Cerrone, it was a high-reward fight for both men with the winner potentially getting a future shot at the UFC Lightweight title in the near future.
Cerrone represents a rare breed of fighter, which is likely why much of the focus was on him prior to Saturday’s event. The 31-year-old star doesn’t hesitate to fight anyone put in front of him, and he competes far more frequently than any other top fighter.
As pointed out by TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter, the Alvarez fight marked Cerrone’s ninth in a little over two years:
Alvarez entered Saturday’s bout as the fresher fighter having competed just thrice in the same amount of time that saw Cerrone fight on nine occasions. That is clearly a routine that works for Cerrone, though, as he didn’t appear to be worn out whatsoever.
Cerrone also isn’t much for strategy or game planning. Prior to UFC 178, Cerrone even admitted to Damon Martin of FoxSports.com that he had never previously seen an Alvarez fight.
I’m familiar with him. I’ve never seen the guy fight, which is crazy I know. I hear that all the time ‘you’ve never seen him fight?’ The only video I’ve seen of Eddie is this little pre-clip they showed for the fight. That’s it. I haven’t Googled him, I don’t care. On my radar? Not really. I don’t give a (expletive). Just whoever they give me.
Cerrone has had a lot of success with that care-free attitude, and it worked to his advantage yet again at UFC 178. Perhaps Cerrone was playing coy to create the illusion that he wasn’t worried about Alvarez. Regardless of his true motivations, Cerrone was obviously well prepared.
Alvarez is now 0-1 in UFC and 25-4 overall. He was the Bellator Lightweight champion before moving up to UFC, so the 30-year-old native of Philadelphia knows what it takes to win gold, but he’ll now have to wait his turn in line behind Cerrone and others.
Conversely, the win makes Cerrone to 25-6 with one no contest. It also extends a five-fight winning streak that has him on track to potentially get a rematch with Anthony Pettis should he defeat Gilbert Melendez later in the year.
If nothing else, this fight proves that the lightweight division may very well be the crown jewel of UFC. There are so many viable contenders capable of putting on fight of the year candidates on any given night. Alvarez and Cerrone are two of the best in that regard, and they will continue to anchor pay-per-views for a long time to come.
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