There is little more compelling than the instigation, build-up to a frenzy and then climactic conclusion to an ugly, bitter feud. You want politics? How about Andrew Jackson vs. John Adams and murder and adultery accusations back and forth in the presi…
There is little more compelling than the instigation, build-up to a frenzy and then climactic conclusion to an ugly, bitter feud. You want politics? How about Andrew Jackson vs. John Adams and murder and adultery accusations back and forth in the presidential election of 1828. Mainstream sports will give you something like Shaq vs. Kobe, […]
So when is the last time that an eBay auction sparked a news story? I don’t know either, but this is just straight up strange. If you have a few extra grand laying around, you could be the owner of the master copies of every event M-1 Global held…
So when is the last time that an eBay auction sparked a news story? I don’t know either, but this is just straight up strange. If you have a few extra grand laying around, you could be the owner of the master copies of every event M-1 Global held in 2008 and 2009. The bidding […]
Filed under: UFC, NewsMILWAUKEE – Donald Cerrone may not have been more riled up any time in his career than he was before his rematch with Jamie Varner last September.
“Cowboy” seethed through his post-workout interviews at WEC 51. He got right in V…
MILWAUKEE – Donald Cerrone may not have been more riled up any time in his career than he was before his rematch with Jamie Varner last September.
“Cowboy” seethed through his post-workout interviews at WEC 51. He got right in Varner’s face at the weigh-ins. And he then tore right through his old nemesis in the fight.
Cerrone said then that fighting angry was something he had no problem doing. Against Charles Oliveira on Sunday at UFC on Versus 5, he doesn’t have nearly the same level of animosity. But that doesn’t mean he won’t try to seek it out to give him an advantage when the Octagon door closes.
“I can’t wait to get in the ring and see his cocky (butt) standing across from me,” Cerrone said Friday after a workout at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. “I saw him looking at me the the other day smirking, and that, to me, is cocky. I’ll smirk in the ring, you smirk back. I fight better angry.”
Cerrone (15-3, 1 NC, 2-0 UFC) has put together a respectable four-fight winning streak, all in dominant fashion. He closed out his WEC career with a win over Varner and a submission of Chris Horodecki at the promotion’s swan song show in December. He opened his UFC career, post-merger, with a submission of Paul Kelly in February and a kickboxing clinic decision over Vagner Rocha in June – that Cerrone said he wasn’t fond of his performance in that fight.
A self-described “slow starter,” Cerrone said he looks back on the rage he experienced before his rematch with Varner last year and is trying to channel it for Oliveira (14-1, 1 NC, 2-1 UFC, 1 NC).
“I try to get my mind in the same mindset as I had for Varner because when I fought Varner … there was nothing he could have done, in my mind, to beat me. I was invincible,” Cerrone said. “Getting myself back in that mindset where no one can touch me, that’s what I’m looking to get back to. What did I do, mentally, to get in that mindset? … This guy has nothing for me. What am I gonna do? That’s the mindset I’m in for this fight. There’s blood in my eyes, and I’m ready.”
With fellow lightweights Jim Miller and Ben Henderson fighting one spot up the card, and Miller’s seven-fight winning streak putting him in line for a possible title shot, Cerrone said getting a title shot isn’t something that is realistically on his mind. (Though he did joke that a Miller loss to Henderson would mess up the UFC’s possible plan, and he’d gladly take a crack at the title in that instance.)
Instead, Cerrone, who had five Fight of the Night bonuses in his 10 career WEC fights, and already has one in his two bouts in the UFC, is happen to put on crowd-pleasing performances every time he steps in the cage.
“Just go in there and fight, man,” Cerrone said. “Go in there and fight your (butt) off, like you’ve got nothing to lose. That’s what people want to see. They want to see you sit in that pocket and throw down and just take punches and give ’em right back. That’s fun. That’s when it’s a good time. Sh-ttin’ and gettin’ and goin’ hard. I hope this weekend, we can do that.”
Cerrone and Oliveira fight on the main card of UFC on Versus 5 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. The main card airs live on the Versus cable channel at 9 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.
This Sunday, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will be making its first appearance at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with UFC on Versus 5. Boasting a main card slot is a lightweight battle between Charles “Do Bronx” Olive…
This Sunday, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will be making its first appearance at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with UFC on Versus 5. Boasting a main card slot is a lightweight battle between Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Donald Cerrone, who fights out of Greg Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts, is a […]
MILWAUKEE – Jim Miller can join the club when it comes to being frustrated with the UFC‘s lightweight title situation.
Only three fighters have been in the race for the last 18 months – BJ Penn, Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. Penn lost to Edgar, then got a rematch, which Edgar won. And Edgar and Maynard’s January draw forced a rematch for this October, when both will have recovered from training injuries.
Meanwhile, Miller sits in a pack with the likes of Clay Guida and, before him, Anthony Pettis, wondering when’s gonna be his time. With a seven-fight winning streak going into his co-main event fight against Ben Henderson on Sunday at UFC on Versus 5, Miller is ready for eight to be enough to get him the winner of Edgar-Maynard. And if not? He’ll keep doing what he’s doing.
“I can’t look past any of my opponents,” Miller said Friday after a workout in Milwaukee. “I feel that I’m ready to be recognized as the best lightweight in the world. I kind of have my opportunity to prove it. Anybody they put in there against me, I’m going to be able to beat. Hopefully this is the one, but we’ll see. We’ll see the way it goes and see what happens down the road.”
Miller (20-2, 9-1 UFC) hasn’t lost since a unanimous decision setback to Maynard at UFC 96 in March 2009. His only other pro defeat? It’s rather perfect that it came at the hands of Edgar, losing the New Jersey-based Realty Fighting lightweight belt.
His seven-fight tear through the UFC since his loss to Maynard includes four stoppages, including a TKO against Kamal Shalorus in March and a Submission of the Night win over submission specialist Charles Oliveira last December.
And even though seven straight wins in the lightweight division would normally be enough to get a crack at some gold – the only longer current streaks in the UFC belong to champs Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva – the alternative of sitting on the sideline hoping he gets a shot later hasn’t really appealed to him, either.
“I’m here to fight the best, and I know I can beat anybody in the world,” Miller said. “Basically, I’m just getting opportunities to show it. The way the title picture has worked out these last couple fights, with BJ and Frankie, and now all the stuff going on with Frankie and Gray, you can’t expect anything. You just have to wait it out and let those guys settle it. In the meantime, I’ve been happy taking these fights and fighting tough guys and working my butt off so I can beat them.”
Against Henderson, Miller gets an opponent who perhaps has a little something extra to prove on Sunday. Henderson (13-2, 1-0 UFC) was lightweight champ in the WEC, and Miller was critical of the WEC’s lightweights when they merged into the UFC at the start of this year – believing they were a second tier of competition to their big brothers in the bigger show.
And though he may not be ready to take back completely what he said, he does admit Henderson proved himself worthy of UFC lightweight status with his win over Mark Bocek at UFC 129 in April.
Miller also has a win over Bocek at UFC 111. But the New Jersey-based fighter said if Henderson is only using their mutual fights with Bocek for comparison, he’s in trouble.
“He definitely fought Mark a lot more conservative than I did,” Miller said. “I know that if I had tried to stall it out on the mat, I could’ve done it. But I wanted to sub him out. I put him in danger a couple times. But time has passed. I think if Ben thinks he is fighting the same Jim Miller that fought Mark (in March 2010), he’s going to be in for a rude awakening on Sunday night.”
Miller and Henderson fight Sunday in the co-main event of UFC on Versus 5 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wis., the UFC’s debut in the state. The main card airs live on the Versus cable channel at 9 p.m. Eastern.
Jared Hamman is set to make his return to the Octagon on August 14 at UFC on Versus 5. That night, Hamman will be making his welterweight debut when he takes on C.B. Dollaway. In his last fight, Hamman lost a highly entertaining decision against Kyle K…
Jared Hamman is set to make his return to the Octagon on August 14 at UFC on Versus 5. That night, Hamman will be making his welterweight debut when he takes on C.B. Dollaway. In his last fight, Hamman lost a highly entertaining decision against Kyle Kingsbury which earned both fighters Fight of the Night […]
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