A look back on Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone the submission fighter.
So Donald Cerrone is apparently fighting this weekend. And he’s not merely partaking in an event. “Cowboy” is actually co-headlining the Tyron Woodley-Colby Covington card against Niko Price.
I personally can’t keep up anymore. The man’s been taking four fights a year since 2009. And at 37 years of age, he still moves in that same pace as if he was in his early 20s.
So I thought we’d rewind to 2007, at one of his earliest performances during a Ring of Combat event in his home state of Colorado. Back when he was with the TapouT crew with the late great Charles “Mask” Lewis. It was during a time when Cowboy showed more of his submission game than he should.
Standing across the cage from him is fellow UFC and WEC veteran Anthony Njokuani, who holds an almost identical resumé in terms of opponents. Both were entering the fight with an undefeated record and a fair share of good wins.
Cerrone is known as a slow starter, and this bout is no different. Ardent calls from Greg Jackson and Duane Ludwig to press the action seemingly fell on deaf ears. He was moving forward, but his shots were limited to one-twos.
Greg Jackson made the adjustment and called for a takedown to punctuate the combination. Cerrone finally obliged off of a right body kick from Njokuani. A few scrambles later, Cowboy got back control and almost got a rear-naked choke in. But seeing the opportunity, he went for an armbar to the dismay of his coaches.
Njokuani flipped over in an attempt to reverse positions, Cerrone saw the opening for a triangle, locked it in, and got the tap. Crowd went nuts, as Mask and Tim “SkySkrape” Katz shared jubilant high fives.
Even with a four-fight skid, it’s unlikely for the UFC to cut Cerrone at this point. But as a fan, here’s hoping he ends up back on the winning track.
By the way, the fight starts at the 1:52 mark of the clip below, and you can watch the entire video of this TapouT series episode here.