Donald Cerrone is clearly on a tear within the Ultimate Fighting Championship. At UFC 182, he dominated Myles Jury to earn his sixth straight win, dating back to UFC 167 in 2013. With this win, Cerrone has entered a peculiar place where he’s a major draw within the division but just outside the place to demand a title shot. With that in mind, the UFC matchmakers should place him against Khabib Nurmagomedov, with the winner getting the next shot at the title.
Donald Cerrone is one of the most active athletes on the UFC’s roster. His fight on Saturday was his 16th fight since moving to the UFC in 2011. He has put together a very impressive 13-3 record during that run.
Unfortunately for Cerrone, two of those loses come to current lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and recently tapped Rafael dos Anjos, who will fight Pettis at UFC 185 in March (via Sherdog). With that fight being set up, Cerrone now has the opportunity to wait for Nurmagomedov or stay active, which he is prone to doing.
During the post-fight press conference, Cerrone mentioned that he would like to fight at the UFC event planned for Denver, Colorado on February 14.
“Denver, Colorado in a couple of weeks would be pretty cool,” Cerrone said during questioning (video via MMA Fighting).
Yet, from a rankings standpoint, the fight against Nurmagomedov makes the most MMA sense. Nurmagomedov is currently ranked No. 2 within the lightweight division, while Cerrone sits in the No. 4 spot. Gilbert Melendez recently competed for the title and was defeated, which would eliminate him as the only other man ranked above Cerrone to potentially face at this time.
The question is whether or not the UFC can convince “Cowboy” to wait on the sideline instead of trying to cash in more paydays. Nurmagomedov is currently out with a knee injury that he suffered back in June (via MMA Junkie). Recent reports have pushed his return back to February at the earliest (via MMA Fighting). That would mean that Cerrone would have to wait until potentially March or April for his next bout.
Nurmagomedov welcomed the idea of fighting Donald and took to Twitter to express the delight.
He even went further to suggest an exact event where the fight should occur.
Comparatively speaking, Cerrone versus Nurmagomedov would be a compelling stylistic fight. Cerrone has struggled in the past against men who can pressure him and score takedowns. His losses to Rafael dos Anjos and Benson Henderson can be used as examples as to how he has competed against men of a similar style. The question would be whether or not he can stay on his feet against Khabib‘s sambo and overwhelm him with his volume striking.
For Nurmagomedov, the tactics would be to take Cerrone down and control the contest. The status of the fight as a main or co-main event would play into this strategy, as it would be telling to see if Nurmagomedov can do it for 15 minutes as opposed to 25.
Cerrone would have the striking advantage, but Khabib‘s takedowns have been his main weapon since joining the UFC, and it should be expected for him to continue to lean on what has gotten him this far.
Donald Cerrone and Khabib Nurmagomedov are on a direct course to see who will eventually challenge for the lightweight title in 2015. The UFC should convince Cerrone to sit on the sideline for a few months and patiently wait for Nurmagomedov to return from injury.
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