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One of the most popular fighters to be competing in the UFC today, Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone might also be the most exciting fighter to watch in the entire sport. Since his UFC debut in 2011, Cerrone has come into every fight with the same attitude – kill or be killed – and most recently he broke the records for most UFC wins and most UFC finishes with his armbar of Mike Perry.
That fight came at 170lbs but following his victory, Cerrone promised to make a return to 155lbs – where he had a failed title shot in 2015 – and make good this time by defeating Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC championship.
Whether he can get that far is a total question mark, but it should be fun to see him try. Here are 5 potential opponents for Donald Cerrone – opponents that would guarantee fireworks.
#1: Justin Gaethje
There are few fighters who can rival Cerrone in terms of offering guaranteed excitement inside the Octagon, but Gaethje is certainly one of them. Nicknamed ‘The Highlight’, the former WSOF champion has just 4 fights inside the UFC, but three of them were bonafide contenders for Fight of the Year and the other – his most recent – ended in a thunderous knockout.
Like Cerrone, Gaethje is a fighter straight out of the old school – he doesn’t care where or when he fights, he just comes to throw down – but while some fans peg him as a mindless brawler, he’s a lot more than that. An outstanding wrestler, Gaethje doesn’t look to take his opponents down – he uses that background to remain on his feet and unleash his striking.
Gaethje admittedly relies on his chin to keep him in his fights far too often, but he’s also sneakily good at chaining combinations together and has an absolutely vicious leg kicking game – one that could rival Cerrone’s.
Essentially, if the UFC were to put these two men into the Octagon there’d only been one guarantee – an absolute war with both men probably looking like best buddies after the fight. With Gaethje currently ranked at #6, the fight would present Cerrone with an instant opportunity to jump back into title contention – and the fans would absolutely love it.
#2: Dustin Poirier
A former Featherweight, Dustin Poirier moved to 155lbs in 2015 and since then he’s gone from strength-to-strength, winning 8 of 10 fights there, with the only negative results coming via a knockout loss to Michael Johnson and a wild brawl with Eddie Alvarez that ended in a No Contest when Alvarez stunned Poirier with a series of illegal knees.
‘The Diamond’ is on an incredibly hot streak right now though – he’s taken out former champion Anthony Pettis, top contender Justin Gaethje, and most recently took his revenge over Alvarez with a second-round TKO. He’s essentially the top contender in the division behind Tony Ferguson right now – meaning a fight with Cerrone could make a lot of sense.
Probably best described as a ‘technical brawler’, Poirier loves to trade off with his opponent but he’s a much cleaner striker than some might realise, able to string combinations together and go to the head and body with equal venom. And he’s also an accomplished grappler – 6 of his 24 wins have come via submission.
A fight with Cerrone would simply be a fight fan’s dream match – both men don’t know the meaning of backing down, and simply love to trade blows until their opponent is no longer standing. Durability has been a question mark for both men in the past, too – meaning the likelihood of this one reaching the final buzzer would be pretty low.
#3: Tony Ferguson
If UFC Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov ends up with a long suspension due to his part in the infamous UFC 229 brawl, then top contender Tony Ferguson is likely left without an opponent for his next fight. So why not match him with ‘Cowboy’ in his return fight at 155lbs?
Currently on a barely-believable 11-fight winning streak, ‘El Cucuy’ might be the single most aggressive fighter competing in MMA today. Regardless of the position he’s in – standing, in the clinch, in top or bottom position on the ground – Ferguson looks to attack his opponent with a variety of different assaults, be it with his sharp elbows, nasty chokes or wild kicks.
Cerrone – a man equally venomous on the ground as he is standing – would probably look to fight fire with fire against ‘El Cucuy’ and take advantage of the fact that in all of his fights, Ferguson somehow seems to take tremendous punishment while barely flinching.
On the flip side, could Cerrone – particularly dropping back to 155lbs – really be able to match the hellacious pace of the TUF 13 champion? Or would he simply become another victim of arguably the best 155lber on the planet today? It’d definitely be worth watching, that’s for sure.
#4: Conor McGregor
While it might sound a little far-fetched to discuss McGregor fighting a largely unproven box office draw like Cowboy – who’s wildly popular, but has never sold millions on pay-per-view – it could yet happen. UFC President Dana White has already suggested that an immediate rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov might not be in the pipeline right now, and a potential McGregor/St-Pierre fight hasn’t really been mooted recently.
Cerrone, on the other hand, is readily available for a fight, and after his win over Mike Perry this weekend a lot of people – including Chael Sonnen – have been discussing a fight between ‘The Notorious One’ and ‘Cowboy’. Cerrone himself has even posted on Instagram, claiming he’s “just waiting” for McGregor to sign to fight him.
The two men have history, too; back in 2015 when McGregor first mulled over his eventual move from 145lbs to 155lbs, Cerrone was one of the Lightweights that the Irishman had in his firing line, as he claimed Cowboy was “stuck in the mud” and would be far too slow to be able to catch McGregor.
Could that be really true? There’s only one way to find out, of course – and that’s by the two men stepping inside the Octagon against one another. Cerrone might not draw as well as Diaz or Khabib but he’d make for a great fight with McGregor, the build to the fight would be incredible and we’d finally find out if McGregor is for real post-Mayweather. Sounds good to me!
#5: Nate Diaz
Pegged to return to face off with Dustin Poirier at UFC 230 earlier this month, an injury to Poirier resulted in Nate Diaz being left on the shelf – where he’s been sitting since his August 2016 loss to Conor McGregor – for a little longer. But surely it’s now time for him to return – so why not against Cerrone?
The backstory is already there – the two men faced off in 2011 at UFC 141 and after a pre-fight war of words that saw Diaz knock Cerrone’s cowboy hat off and flip him off, the Stockton-based fighter then took the fight to ‘Cowboy’, hitting him with some nasty combinations that seemed to have Cerrone out on his feet.
Despite landing some good low kicks, Cerrone was well beaten, and after the fight he admitted that Diaz had gotten inside his head, but also confirmed that he was coming in with an existing jaw injury. That means that the two men might have unfinished business – and of course, with Diaz it’s always personal anyway.
Would Diaz agree to the fight? I don’t see why not – it’d draw well on any UFC show and judging by the first outcome, it’s also a winnable fight for him, something that’s bound to pique his interest. But it’d be a winnable fight for Cowboy too – and a chance for him to get some much-wanted revenge. The first fight was pretty awesome – and a rematch would be equally cool.
