After his most recent knockout of Melvin Guillard, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone proved that he is deserving of a title match with Benson Henderson. By dominating Guillard, he proved that he is more than just a gatekeeper for guys to get through before they take on the champion.
Domination of Guillard was unexpected after the New Orleans native missed weight and had to fight the bout as a 157.5 catchweight. In the first part of the fight, it looked as if Guillard had a little bit of speed and power on Cowboy.
Then at the 1:16 mark, the fight had to be stopped. Cerrone had clipped Guillard with a kick and then had followed it up with a punch that won Knockout of the Night. Their fight also was deemed the Fight of the Night.
Cerrone Is the best Lightweight Left after Diaz
At lightweight, there is Frankie Edgar, Benson Henderson, Nate Diaz and Cowboy Cerrone. After that, there looks to be a good bit of a drop-off starting with Melvin Guillard. Considering Bendo-Edgar II just gave everyone the same result as Bendo-Edgar I, it wouldn’t make sense for them to have a rubber match.
Yes, Nick Diaz gets a shot. However, whether or not Diaz is able to win against Bendo is another question. Diaz beat Cowboy, but that doesn’t mean Cowboy couldn’t beat Bendo. The UFC is a living breathing organism similar to the old days of boxing. Just because someone is winning now, doesn’t mean they will win forever.
Gray Maynard is another name that will be thrown around and could be a stepping stone for Cerrone on his road back to a championship shot. However, he doesn’t deserve another shot at the title until he can prove that he is worthy of it against top competition especially after the egg that he and Clay Guida left at UFC on FX.
After Cerrone’s fight lasted all of a minute and 16 seconds, he should be ready to have another fight in December. Bendo looks like he should be ready as well to take on any and all comers. So why not give the shot to Cowboy for once?
Scott Carasik is a Featured Columnist and Trends and Traffic Writer for Bleacher Report. As a Featured Columnist, he covers the Atlanta Falcons, NFL and NFL draft. He is also the Falcons analyst at Drafttek, runs the NFL draft website ScarDraft.com and hosts Kvetching Draftniks Radio.
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