Donald Cerrone and Joe Lauzon face off on Saturday in a main card showdown in a lightweight battle at UFC on ESPN 37 at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. Dana White has said the loser of this fight is probably going to be forced to retire from the UFC. This fight was originally supposed to happen on May 7th, but Cerrone had to pull out because of sickness.
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone comes into this fight with a 36-16 record overall but he has lost four of his last five fights, and the other one was a no contest. He has faced some tough fighters, during that stretch, but there is still a ton of pressure on him heading into this fight. Cerrone’s last fight came against Alex Morono in May of 2021 and he lost that by knockout in the first round. Cerrone is averaging 4.43 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 4.49 significant strikes per minute. Cerrone is averaging 1.18 takedowns every 15 minutes and he is successful on 33 percent of his takedown attempts. Cerrone also stops 74 percent of his opponent's takedown attempts.
On the other side of this matchup is Joe Lauzon who sits with a 28-16 record overall but he has lost three of their last four fights. Lauzon’s last fight came against Jonathan Pearce in October of 2019 and it was only 1:33 seconds into that fight he won by knockout. Lauzon is averaging 2.84 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 5.39 significant strikes per minute Lauzon is averaging 2.39 successful takedowns every 15 minutes and he is successful on 45 percent of his takedown attempts. Lauzon is also stopping 54 percent of his opponent's takedown attempts. Lauzon is also averaging 2.0 submission attempts every 15 minutes.
Cerrone has fought the tougher fighters heading into this fight, and Cerrone doesn’t want his career to end like this. On paper and in the octagon Cerrone is the better fighter, and since he is more technical, I expect he is going to find success. Cerrone is going to use the leg kicks to his advantage, and that is going to be the difference as he gets the job done. Back Cerrone on the money line.
AUTHOR: Shane Mickle
Mitch's Take...
