Tag: Donald Cerrone vs. Darren Till

While last weekend’s (Sat., October 21, 2017) UFC Fight Night 118 from the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland, may have been short on overall mixed martial arts (MMA) star power, it did feature the rise of up-and-coming star Darren Till, who demolished longtime contender Donald Cerrone in the main event.

The brash British talent not surprisingly came into the bout as a large underdog, but proved the oddsmakers wrong when he blitzed Cerrone with a vicious fight-ending combination at the end of the first round.

With the shocking win, Till bulldozed his way onto the new official UFC rankings, landing at No. 9 on the current list from UFC.com. With his third straight loss, Cerrone dropped three spots to No. 9, allowing Carlos Condit and Colby Covington to rise up to the Nos. 6 and 7 spots, respectively.

Both Condit and Covington are booked to fight in the coming weeks, with Covington taking on longtime rankings mainstay Demian Maia in the co-main event of this weekend’s UFC Fight Night 119 from Sao Paulo, while Condit meets Neil Magny at December’s UFC 219.

With Stephen Thompson facing Jorge Masvidal t November 4’s UFC 217 and top-ranked Robbie Lawler meeting No. 5 Rafael dos Anjos at UFC on FOX 26, the welterweight division is suddenly the most buzzing and active division in the UFC – and that will certainly provide multiple opponents for the rising Till when he returns.

Check out the full updated rankings right here:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Max Holloway
4 Stipe Miocic -1
5 Daniel Cormier
6 Cody Garbrandt
7 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Dominick Cruz
10 Jose Aldo
11 Cris Cyborg
12 Tony Ferguson +1
13 Michael Bisping -1
14 Amanda Nunes
15 Robert Whittaker

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Sergio Pettis
5 Jussier Formiga
6 Wilson Reis
7 Brandon Moreno
8 Ben Nguyen
9 Dustin Ortiz
9 John Moraga +1
11 Tim Elliott
12 Alexandre Pantoja +1
13 Louis Smolka +1
14 Magomed Bibulatov +1
15 Ulka Sasaki *NR

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Cody Garbrandt
1 Dominick Cruz
2 TJ Dillashaw
3 Jimmie Rivera
4 Raphael Assuncao
5 John Lineker
6 Bryan Caraway
7 Aljamain Sterling
8 John Dodson
9 Thomas Almeida
10 Marlon Moraes
11 Eddie Wineland
12 Pedro Munhoz
13 Rob Font
14 Matthew Lopez
15 Johnny Eduardo

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Jose Aldo
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Ricardo Lamas
4 Cub Swanson
5 Chan Sung Jung
6 Brian Ortega
7 Yair Rodriguez
8 Jeremy Stephens
9 Darren Elkins
10 Renato Moicano
11 Dennis Bermudez
12 Dooho Choi
13 Mirsad Bektic
14 Myles Jury
15 Jason Knight

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Conor McGregor
1 Tony Ferguson (Interim Champion)
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Edson Barboza
4 Eddie Alvarez
5 Justin Gaethje
6 Nate Diaz
7 Kevin Lee
8 Dustin Poirier
9 Michael Johnson
10 Michael Chiesa
11 Al Iaquinta
12 Beneil Dariush
13 Anthony Pettis
14 Evan Dunham
15 Mairbek Taisumov

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Robbie Lawler
2 Stephen Thompson
3 Demian Maia
4 Jorge Masvidal
5 Rafael Dos Anjos
6 Carlos Condit +1
7 Colby Covington +1
8 Darren Till *NR
9 Donald Cerrone -3
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio -1
11 Neil Magny -1
12 Kamaru Usman -1
13 Gunnar Nelson -1
14 Dong Hyun Kim -1
15 Alex Oliveira -1

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Michael Bisping
1 Robert Whittaker (Interim Champion)
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Yoel Romero
4 Jacare Souza
5 Chris Weidman
6 Anderson Silva
7 Derek Brunson
8 Kelvin Gastelum
9 David Branch
10 Uriah Hall
11 Vitor Belfort
12 Krzysztof Jotko
13 Brad Tavares
14 Tim Boetsch
15 Thiago Santos

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Jimi Manuwa
5 Mauricio Rua
6 Ovince Saint Preux
7 Corey Anderson
8 Misha Cirkunov
9 Ilir Latifi
10 Patrick Cummins
11 Rogerio Nogueira
12 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
13 Tyson Pedro
14 Jan Blachowicz *NR
15 Gian Villante -1

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Alistair Overeem
2 Fabricio Werdum
3 Cain Velasquez
4 Francis Ngannou
5 Mark Hunt
6 Derrick Lewis
7 Alexander Volkov
8 Marcin Tybura
9 Aleksei Oleinik
10 Stefan Struve
11 Junior Albini
12 Andrei Arlovski
12 Curtis Blaydes
14 Travis Browne
15 Tim Johnson

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Joanna Jedrzejczyk
1 Jessica Andrade
2 Claudia Gadelha
3 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
4 Rose Namajunas
5 Tecia Torres
6 Michelle Waterson
7 Cynthia Calvillo
8 Carla Esparza
9 Felice Herrig
10 Paige VanZant
11 Alexa Grasso
12 Cortney Casey
13 Joanne Calderwood
14 Randa Markos
15 Maryna Moroz

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Holly Holm
3 Julianna Pena
4 Raquel Pennington
5 Ronda Rousey
6 Cat Zingano
7 Sara McMann
8 Ketlen Vieira +1
9 Germaine de Randamie -1
10 Alexis Davis
11 Liz Carmouche
12 Marion Reneau
13 Katlyn Chookagian
14 Bethe Correia
15 Leslie Smith

The post UFC Rankings Update: Darren Till Storms Onto Welterweight Top 10 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Unbeaten British welterweight Darren Till had a golden opportunity to burst onto the UFC welterweight ranks when he fought longtime contender Donald Cerrone in the main event of today’s (Sat., October 21, 2017) UFC Fight Night 118 from the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland, but not many were giving him a shot against the feared veteran.

However, Till did exactly what he predicted in the lead-up to the fight and dominated Cerrone from the opening bell (at least for a long as the fight lasted), blasting him with a vicious shot early followed by a stinging elbow that opened the floodgates for a brutal onslaught of ground shots that left referee Marc Goddard with no choice but to call the bout in the first round.

Till looked huge and overpowering, truly appearing to be the size of a middleweight, and it seemed like ‘Cowboy,’ who is now beginning to show the wear and tear of being perhaps the most active fighter in UFC history, was never truly in the fight at any point against the larger and younger “Gorilla.” The future looks extremely bright for the brash Brit all of the sudden, and he called out fellow surging young competitor Mike “Platinum” Perry in his post-fight interview.

There will be many match-ups discussed for Till in the stacked welterweight division in the coming weeks, and they should all present new and exciting bouts.

Now, it’s time for Till to enjoy his biggest-ever win in MMA by a longshot. Check out the combination that marked the beginning of the end for Cerrone here:

The beginning of the end! @DarrenTill2 with the beautiful combination that led to the finish! #UFCGdansk pic.twitter.com/BxGUbNI3W3

— UFC (@ufc) October 21, 2017

The post Highlights: Darren Till Demolishes Donald Cerrone At UFC Gdansk appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

With today’s (Sat., October 21, 2017) UFC Fight Night 118 in the books from the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland, a new welterweight rising star has emerged.

Unbeaten British prospect Darren Till bulldozed his way onto the rankings by destroying longtime veteran Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone with a first-round TKO in the main event following a huge punch and elbow on the feet that had Cerrone turtling up early. It was a quick, shocking victory that will represent a changing of the guard at welterweight.

In other action, former women’s strawweight contender Karolina Kowalkiewicz got back into the win column with a unanimous decision win over Jodie Esquibel in the co-main event.

Watch the fighters break down the card in the post-fight press conference starting shortly after the main card here:

The post UFC Gdansk Post-Fight Press Conference Video appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

As the No. 6-ranked welterweight in the stacked UFC 170-pound waters, longtime top contender Donald Cerrone has seen the criticism of his match-up versus unranked Darren Till in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., October 21, 2017) UFC Fight Night 118 from the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland.

Looking to rebound from two losses to Robbie Lawler and Jorge Masvidal, he knows that facing a relatively unknown name in Till is a huge risk for him and a massive opportunity for the 24-year-old Brit, turning the bout into a sort of lose-lose proposition.

But ‘Cowboy’ recently described the real situation to MMA Junkie, noting that the MMA audience was gullible to believe fighters when they claim they’ll fight anyone anywhere, with many actually picking and choosing their bouts much more carefully than publicly flaunted. Wanting to get back in the Octagon as always, he said fighters turning down fights is a major trigger for him:

“The MMA audience is so stupid,” Cerrone said. “They just think because a guy says, ‘I’ll fight anybody,’ that means they’ll do it. No, that’s not true. They said they’ll fight anybody in public, and then when they get the call and their manager sits down with them and they’re like, ‘They offered us ‘Cowboy’ and their manager says, ‘Stylistically I don’t know if that’s a good matchup for you right now, you’re coming off a loss’ and blah, blah blah.

“Then they say they didn’t turn it down, but their management turned it down and it’s not them doing it, ‘I didn’t turn it down.’ To me that drives me (expletive) through the wall.”

No details came of whom may have turned down a fight with him in Poland, so ‘Cowboy’ gave his respect to Till for fighting a ‘legend’ with only a few UFC bouts to his name. He saw the young version of himself in Till, because neither will turn down a fight.

That said, he acknowledged how big of an opportunity this was for ‘The Gorilla,’ while simultaneously admitting it didn’t make all that much sense for him career-wise:

“For Darren to say, ‘You know what, I’ve only had a couple fights, I’ll fight a (expletive) legend, let’s go.’ Dude, right on, bro,” Cerrone said. “I was that son-of-a-(expletive) kid. I remember taking those fights. My hat’s off to the kid. The steam’s running on him. Good opportunity for him. But people say no all the time. It’s (expletive) asinine to me.

“Career-wise, is this a smart fight moving forward in my direction in the rankings? Probably not. This does me nothing. It does something for Darren if he wins. He could do some serious leap-frogging, but for me, nothing. Why be the guy that says I’ll fight anyone, anywhere, anytime – oh, except for him? If I say that I have to live by it.”

Indeed Cerrone has been criticized for perhaps even fighting too much and not allowing his body to rest in between bouts, but for better or worse, it’s who he is and the reason why he’s a fan favorite.

He’s also a true throwback to an era of fighters who would fight anyone, anywhere, and it’s possible there’s never been a fighter more willing to step up on short notice in MMA history. Whether that’s good or bad for his career longevity doesn’t matter, because even if “Cowboy” knows fighting Till does nothing for him in a rankings sense, he simply wants to get in the cage and do what he’s best at.

Even if that means risking becoming a ‘gatekeeper’ for one of Europe’s potential future stars of the sport.

The post Donald Cerrone Calls MMA Audience ‘So Stupid’ appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.