#3 Onwards and upwards for Cerrone
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Donald Cerrone has been on a tear at Welterweight, and his performance against an incredibly tough and game Matt Brown was nothing short of elite level stuff. For not only did Brown take the fight to him in his trademark dogged style, but this was arguably the best that he has looked in a while.
After being completely nullified against Maia and finished early against Ellenberger, Brown’s approach to this fight didn’t seem to portray the level of desperation that an aging fighter who has lost 4 out of his last 5 fights may normally be associated with.
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Instead, his striking seemed crisp and his gameplan was astute, as he took the attack to a younger and, arguably, more talented fighter for as long as the fight did last. Perhaps including Duane Ludwig into his training camp is paying dividends; after all, he is the coach that reinvented TJ Dillashaw into the next-gen fighter that he is today.
However, guts and grit only gets you that far, and Cowboy’s in-fight reads proved too perceptive for Brown to deal with as he succumbed in the third round to a perfectly timed head kick.
Cerrone, meanwhile, marches on towards a title shot in the Welterweight rankings. In all probability, he has to deal with the BJJ phenom that his Demian Maia next, as Wonderboy looks likely to replay his UFC 205 fight against Champion Tyron Woodley.
