LAS VEGAS — One head kick was enough to make John Makdessi realize it was time to call it a night.
Makdessi absorbed a brutal kick from Donald Cerrone late in the second round of their UFC 187 lightweight bout on Saturday night and realized he likely had a broken jaw. The Tristar fighter waved the fight off, giving Cerrone his eighth straight victory at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The time of the stoppage was 4:42 of the second.
“If you’re in the UFC you’re one of the baddest dudes around,” Cerrone (28-6, 1 NC) said about Makdessi (13-4). “My hat’s off to him.”
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The Montrealer stepped up to meet Cerrone on short notice after Khabib Nurmagomedov, Cerrone’s original foe, pulled out with an injury.
Makdessi was game, but he simply couldn’t make up for Cerrone’s height and reach advantage. Cerrone stayed loose and patient, darting in and out and landing with an array of strikes, but never allowing himself to stay in the pocket long enough to make a fight changing mistake.
Cerrone improved to 3-0 in 2015 and hopes his string of wins is enough to get another crack at the man who defeated him, current UFC lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos.
“I never paint myself into a corner,” Cerrone said. “I think I might get this title fight sooner or later.”