Ultimate fighting championship (UFC) welterweight fighters Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone and Jorge Masvidal took each other on in the octagon for Fox 23. It's not doubt that Cerrone's past few fights have been some of his best yet, but Masvidal showed he was up to the task and took him down.
The first round consisted of the typical kicks from Cowboy and jabs from Masvidal. Going right over the top, the exchange of punches between the two were relatively close. Throughout the next round Masvidal delivered various blows to Cerrone, making him look visibly drained. Masvidal showed that he was more than ready for this fight, and wasn't ready to have Cerrone put him away.
After receiving a barrage of blows, Cerrone covered and Herb Dean ended the fight. Cowboy hasn't ever really been finished in this fashion, and it may have taken him back a bit. It won't be long until he comes back, more ready than ever to get into the octagon again. Reach was definitely not a downside to this match; Masvidal was smart and landed punches strategically. He showed that he had an upper hand in his boxing, which was ultimately Cerrone's flaw. Not being able to take the blows was what cost him the fight.
The pressure in this fight was long-standing, and was felt by all who watched. Cerrone is facing a setback, but won't be gone for long. The prediction by many was that his leg kicks would wear Masvidal out but that wasn't the case in this fight. We may now see Masvidal get into the title mix, which would set up for some interesting boughts.
Some people are thinking that the stoppage was wrong, but Masvidal knows that he won the bout. In a post-fight interview, he gave his views on what he thought about the stoppage and the fight in general “He stopped it early. But, to defend Herb Dean, it was so loud in that arena that I didn’t hear it either. Maybe you guys heard it (since) you’re sitting closer to it, but I didn’t hear it. … It is what it is. Mistakes are going to happen.”
Some people are hoping to see a Diaz fight in the works after this, but as for right now, Masvidal is just going to enjoy his win and train for the fight and hopefully a title shot.
