Donald Cerrone found himself in an interesting spot at UFC Vegas 11. Three straight losses, and a tough opponent lined up in Niko Price. If we’re being honest, for most fighters, that’s job loss territory. But does anyone believe, for one single second, that the UFC would cut Cowboy Cerrone, even on an 0-4 run? No? Good. Let’s move on.
Price entered the night off a loss to Vincente Luque, and very amped up to go up against a legend like Cowboy. Both fighters were known for bringing the action, which had fans practically giddy ahead of this welterweight showdown.
Knowing the typical slow start of Cerrone, Niko Price shot out of the gate with tons of shots. He backed Cerrone up and appeared to have tagged him with dozens of heavy shots. Cerrone looked wobbly from time to time, but never lost his feet and was always firing back. About halfway through the round, they tied up and wound up against the cage for some much needed rest. Shortly thereafter Price stuck his finger into the eye of Cerrone. He spent virtually no time recovering and got right back at it. With Price slowing down toward the end of the round, Cerrone began to land his jab and looked for the head kick, which landed a few times, albeit never flush. Price ended the round by poking Cerrone’s other eye — which cost him a point.
Price came out in the second in a hurry again, this time mostly with kicks. Cerrone continued to build on the jabs he landed in the second, adding some body work to it. Price still maintained the majority of the pressure though. More jabs and body work from Cerrone was met with the bigger head shots from Price. A hard round to score based on that back-and-forth and with the point taken in the first made this even crazier.
Price listened to his coaches and came out with more of the same pressure in the third. Cerrone had a look at a takedown and had Price to a knee, but he leaped back up. About halfway through the round Cerrone repeated that move and was able to take the back. He held that position for a bit, but got too high and fell off the top. Price beckoned him back to his feet after a quick kick. With less than a minute to go, Cerrone got a body lock and broke it with a head kick that partially landed. As expected, the two men emptied the tank to end the fight.
A Majority Draw! 👏@CowboyCerrone & @NikoHybridPrice go the distance in a fun one. #UFCVegas11 pic.twitter.com/9Mrj2eHuOy
— UFC (@ufc) September 20, 2020
With the point deduction, the end result wasn’t much of a surprise — a majority draw. Which seemed to leave Price happy enough despite not getting the win.
Official Result: Donald Cerrone and Niko Price ends in a Majority Draw (29-27, 28-28, 28-28)
