#4 Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone
My old kickboxing coach Antoni Hardonk once described “Cowboy” as a kickboxing computer who adjusts to your mistakes, and he’s certainly looked correct as Cowboy has been riding an eye-popping 12-2 record since late 2013 with the only losses coming against former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos.
Cowboy’s striking seems to have gone to another level since he ditched walking MMA punchline Henry Smith (he of the tattooed shaved head) and started working with the hottest coach in MMA striking today Brandon “six gun” Gibson. Of those 12 wins I mentioned, 7 have come by way of KO/TKO including his last 3 in the Welterweight division.
Cowboy is mostly known for his head kicks because those cause knockouts, but he is an outstanding body and leg kicker as well. The biggest improvements in Cowboy’s game since working with Gibson have been the addition of the step back knee and the straightening of his punches.
The step back knee allowed Cowboy to punish pressure fighters like Eddie Alvarez and keep them from darting in on him, while straighter punches allowed Cowboy to tee off on Patrick Cote en route to 4 knockdowns before the finish.
And I haven’t even mentioned his Tekken 4 style combo he used to finish Rick Story. The bottom line is that as much one loathes him outside the cage, you can’t have a list of best UFC strikers without the Cowboy in it.
