Why haven't we seen Donald Cerrone reach that elite fighter class ever?

Good kicks but not the best boxing. He can get overwhelmed by pressure boxers. His defense is also suspect as he has been hurt with shots to the body several times in his career.

Extremely tough however. To all the people saying it is "mental" I completely disagree. Remember how he went back into the second round with Masvidal? Look how he survived that first 30 seconds of Robbie Lawler! I truly believe all the times he was finished was because his body truly could not stay standing, like against RDA and Masvidal. Cowboy probably wanted to continue but his body literally would not let him.

If you think all the times he lost were due to mental lapses I guess you could say they were lapses in fighting technique. To me, it is a matter of skills and executing a game plan. He is a very good fighter but unfortunately for him there are a few guys better than him in his weight range.
 
mjmj said:
I know you think you're proving your point, but you're not. That has nothing to do with only "mentally folding in the biggest fights". He's folded in meaningless fights too, and has excelled in some really big fights.
Click to expand...

His problem IS mental. Even he admits it.
 
I dont agree about Cerrone folding in big fights. He just got hurt bcz other fighter was better, thats it. When he is able to he comes back, like in Melvin Guillard fight.
 
His last fight where he fought close with Lawler, gives me the impression he is borderline elite. If he isn't elite he definitely is not far from it. Not many fighters can fight a close 3 rounds with Robbie Lawler. Carlos Condit is another one of those guys you want to say is elite but are lacking one or two more marquee fights to put a solid stamp on it. Suffice to say he has had an elite fighting career.
 
Some guys just can't put it together well enough. Cerrone is a good fighter, just guys out there like RDA that are just better everywhere. He wouldve probably been LW champ at some point if RDA wasn't in the same division.
 
Arm Barbarian said:
His problem IS mental. Even he admits it.
Click to expand...
I'm saying he doesn't just fold in the biggest fights, and doesn't always fold in the biggest fights.
And sometimes, he just plain gets beat. Second fight against RDA he didn't even have time to fold mentally.
 
Arm Barbarian said:
His problem IS mental. Even he admits it.
Click to expand...
Perhaps he does feel he has a psychological problem for big fights...and perhaps he does?

But I truly believe in the bottom of my heart he lost to RDA because RDA is a more skilled fighter and a bad matchup for Cerrone. RDA's pressure and liver kicks will always give Cowboy problems, even if Cowboy had his mental game 100% covered.


This might have to be a new Sherdog mythological creature.

Mentally Prepared Cowboy > entire UFC WW division

<{MingNope}>
 
KingHenry said:
Cerrone has been a fan favorite for a long time and he has big wins over former champions like Alvarez in his first UFC fight and Benson in the third of their trilogy... but for some reason he's never won a championship himself despite IMO being an elite striker and submission grappling that's second-to-none at LW and WW. Why's he never made it?
Click to expand...
Your confusion results from your skewed perception of Cerrone. He's not an elite striker and his submission grappling certainly isn't "second to none." He's a very good striker, but it's not elite. He has significant holes in his striking game, e.g., his striking defense is awful. There's a reason why guys like Nate, RDA, Pettis, and Masvidal chewed him up on the feet. And there are plenty of guys at LW and WW who are better submission grapplers than Cerrone, e.g., Khabib, Nate, RDA, Maia, etc.

Don't get me wrong, Cerrone is a great fighter. And he's well-rounded. But his skill set isn't as overwhelming as you're suggesting. And he also has a mental glitch, which he's talked about in the past. The pressure of big fights gets to him, and he's a bit of a front runner.

Will he get his hands on a title at some point? Maybe. But I wouldn't bet on it.
 
I think Nate Diaz is more leet' than Donald Cerrone. Cowboy could learn a thing or two.
 
He's basically reverse GSP. He doesn't watch game tape, plan who he is fighting and fights on emotion. Going to lead to some epic brawls, huge victories and inconsistency. Just sit back and enjoy it.
 
mjmj said:
That's not even remotely true. Not even sure why people think that. He's won some very big fights, and lost some that didn't mean much.
It's pretty simple. He's a very good, talented fighter. He just isn't the very best.
Click to expand...

Proof of that it's he handled himself very well in the Robbie fight, Robbie went full savage and Cerrone didn't crumble or shy to fight back, a lot of people though he won as well, after that fight I thought that dumb myth will be die but still seems there are people parroting that
 
Cause he's a gatekeeper and his name rhymes with Jabroni
 
his striking style isnt good for mma but enough to beat lower level guys like alvarez (very overrated fghter) and others. that benson win was a gift from the judges. he has a 1-dimensional approach, never shoots for a takedown, just a kickboxer with some grappling from the bottom.
 
marvinparsons said:
He's basically reverse GSP. He doesn't watch game tape, plan who he is fighting and fights on emotion. Going to lead to some epic brawls, huge victories and inconsistency. Just sit back and enjoy it.
Click to expand...

It might be due to some lack of game planning. Maybe he fights with too much emotion. But he did win fights against Eddie Alvarez, Matt Brown, Edson, ect which were high leverage/pressure fights.

Maybe he's just a B+/A- fighter and that is his ceiling. There isn't anything wrong with that.
 
D level club fighter at best
 
This god damned thread again.

Every fight Cerrone has ever lost has been a big fight....according to Sherdog.

The second he wins a fight, it's no longer a big fight and doesn't meet their criteria.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,236,903
Messages
55,453,895
Members
174,785
Latest member
ljae89

Share this page

Back
Top