Yesterday, I wrote about who the UFC should book Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (36-16, 2 NC) against in his next fight. Cerrone has recently had two fights fall through with Joe Lauzon and Dana White said the promotion won’t try to rebook that one.
In trying to think of an opponent for Cerrone, it gets tricky. You can’t really pair him with a young contender and you can’t really pit him against a top contender that’s older. He’s in this weird legend-limbo space where few fighters are.
The option I came up with is Clay Guida. Guida is another UFC legend who is up there in age. He’s a guy who would provide an entertaining scrap with Cerrone and it makes sense given where both men are in their career.
I couldn’t help but think of Jim Miller (34-16) as another option. Miller and Cerrone have fought before and both men are in their late 30’s. Now, Miller has won back-to-back fights and he was scheduled to face Bobby “King” Green at UFC 276. However, that all changed today.
UFC 276’s New Welterweight Contest
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto was the first to report this afternoon that Bobby Green was forced to pull out of the fight with Miller. The fight with Miller was of course going to take place in the lightweight division.
The UFC called up Cowboy Cerrone who immediately accepted the fight if it could take place at welterweight. The lightweight cut is always tough for Cerrone and he’s done it twice in just over a month.
Miller agreed to the fight at 170 and now we have a welterweight rematch at UFC 276. These two first fought back in 2014 in a main event of a UFC Fight Night. That night, Cerrone got the better of Miller knocking him out by headkick.
Now, as mentioned above, while both men are in similar spots in terms of age, they are heading in opposite directions. Cerrone is 0-5, 1 NC in his last six while Miller has won two in a row. Granted, it’s important to remember that four of Cerrone’s losses came to former lightweight champions.
This wasn’t the original fight we thought we’d see, but it’s a fun one and it’s one that makes sense for Cowboy.