Pic: Much Thinner ‘Cowboy’ Updates Weight Cut
Longtime UFC fan favorite Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone will make his return to 155 pounds this Saturday.
Cerrone will take on rising contender Alexander Hernandez in the featured preliminary card bout of January 19’s UFC on ESPN+ 1 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. “Cowboy” has competed at 170 pounds since February 2016. In his last fight at lightweight, he was destroyed by then-champion Rafael dos Anjos.
He had an up-and-down tenure at 170 after storming out of the gates with four straight wins. “Cowboy” then lost three in a row. A rebound win over Yancy Medeiros followed, then a decision loss to Leon Edwards. Cerrone was last seen submitting Mike Perry in the co-main event of November’s UFC Denver. After the record-breaking win, he voiced his desire to move back to lightweight.
He’s doing so at the UFC’s historic debut on ESPN. And his weight cut back down, which was always a substantial one, seems to be going well. Cerrone apparently told MMAjunkie’s Mike Bohn that he weighed 164 pounds. He looked thinner in the picture that accompanied it:
The UFC’s owner for most wins will have no easy task in ‘The Great.’ He’s not yet a mainstream star, but Hernandez has been nothing but dominant in the UFC. He debuted with a shocking first-round knockout of vet Beneil Dariush, then dominated Olivier Aubin-Mercier in his next bout.
While those are great competitors, it’s fair to say they aren’t even close to on the level of Cerrone. Brooklyn is a huge launching spot for Hernandez, and Cerrone doesn’t gain much if any ground in the standings with a win. But his mantra is anyone at anytime, and he’s proving that for the umpteenth time at UFC on ESPN+ 1.
His move back down to 155 pounds is currently on point. Will it affect him against a rising star like Hernandez?
