Tonight May 4th, the UFC will make the Canadian Tire Centre its playground. With several great fights on-deck that evening, none has more meaning and impact on their division then the two men making the walk during Saturday night’s lightweight main event. Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (35-11-0-1) vs. “Ragin” Al Iaquinta (14-4-1) will look to keep up the tempo and action that all “Fight Night” main events have provided since the move to ESPN+. Every main event fight night on ESPN+, except for one (Jacare and Hermansson), has either finished by submission or TKO/KO.
A post shared by ufc (@ufc) on May 3, 2019 at 8:58am PDT
When Cowboy makes the walk to the Octagon it’ll be his 41st fight under Zuffa, and he’ll be 1 fight away from tying Jim Miller for most fights in the UFC. With that many fights under his belt (buckle) it comes to no surprise that he has continuously been the guy who holds true to the saying “Anytime. Anywhere. Anyplace”. Time after time when you think Cowboy has nothing left in him and his time may be coming to an end, he seems to find one more bullet in the chamber. No greater example was his most recent fight against Alexander Hernandez. The young up and coming bull was supposed to knock Cowboy off but Cerrone had other plans and ended up finishing Hernandez by TKO.
A post shared by Donald Cerrone (@cowboycerrone) on Jun 25, 2018 at 2:58am PDT
This time it won’t be a young up and coming bull in front of him, it’ll be just what he asked for – a top ranked opponent. Following his dismantling of Hernandez, Cerrone let it be known that he wanted “someone in the top 5 and then [he] wants a title shot”. Once ramblings of a potential bout with McGregor came to a halt, Cerrone’s focus quickly shifted to finding a new dance partner to two-step with.
With Cowboy looking to make one last ride at a belt, the proven and always tough “Ragin” Al Iaquinta will look to set him back and knock him off his saddle. Ragin Al Iaquinta is coming off a bounce back victory against “The Motown Phenom” Kevin Lee after stepping up, but falling short to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223.
A post shared by Al Iaquinta (@aliaquinta) on Dec 15, 2018 at 8:47pm PST
Both of these men look to prove their standing amongst the elite in the division. For Iaquinta, Cowboy presents the perfect opponent to state his claim and provide a perfect sales pitch to Dana and all those around the world that he deserves another crack at the title. As for Cowboy, he will cross country lines in search of his own manifest destiny. With each other, in the others way only one will prove his place amongst the lightweight division and leave with his hand raised.
A post shared by Al Iaquinta (@aliaquinta) on Mar 20, 2019 at 7:25am PDT
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