Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight veterans Donald Cerrone and Matt Brown collided last night (Dec. 10, 2016) at UFC 206 in Air Canada Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Cerrone has looked better than ever in his Welterweight showings, including a pair of dramatic knockouts in his last two wins. Last night, Cerrone was simply looking to keep the train rolling as he moved closer to the title. On the other hand, Brown has fallen on hard times. This was a very important match up for the underdog, as he very likely would lose his position inside the top 15 if he came up short here.
Cerrone struck first, digging into his opponent’s body to set up a hard high kick. However, Brown was undeterred and continued to pressure his opponent, landing some good blows. That said, Cerrone played the outside very well, stabbing his opponent with jabs and landing kicks to every possible target.
Despite eating some hard shots on his way in, Brown kept pressuring. Cerrone briefly threw him to the mat, but he was nearly triangles for his efforts and let his foe back up. In the final minute of the round, it was Brown walking his opponent down and landing the better shots.
All in all, it made for a very close round.
Cerrone looked a bit uncomfortable to start the second round, responding to his opponent’s pressure with a couple failed takedown attempts. About 90 seconds in, Brown cracked his opponent with a heavy overhand that dropped his foe to the mat briefly.
A head kick from Cerrone tied up the foes to one knockdown a piece, but both fighters continued to trade without holding anything back. As expected of a match up between two fighters known far more for offense than defense, both men were landing seriously hard strikes until the end of the round.
The fight was up for grabs heading into the final frame.
The third round began with a big hug from both men, but they quickly began scrapping once more. Not much later, Cerrone caught Brown overextended with his favorite switch high kick.
He knocked "The Immortal" out cold.
Cerrone’s kickboxing still looks better than ever at 170 lbs. His boxing was excellent, as he repeatedly stabbed at Brown with a long jab. Furthermore, his combinations set up the high kick excellent, as any foe willing to slip away from his punches is in dire threat of eating a high kick.
Aside from his improved boxing, Cerrone’s ability to mix up his kicks is still excellent. He dug into his opponent’s leg as Brown pushed forward repeatedly, as his constant switch between round kicks to the body and head was very difficult to read. Lastly, Cerrone kept it all together mentally. His opponent swarmed him and landed hard shots, which has thrown Cerrone off in the past. This time, however, Cerrone was able to remain calm and keep laying traps, and he scored the finish because of it.
Next up for Cerrone should be Robbie Lawler. That would be a fantastic scrap of high level strikers, and it could earn Cerrone a shot at the strap.
Brown fought well. He marched Cerrone down in classic Muay Thai style, and he was able to land some really nasty blows because of it. The fight was very close heading into the last round, it was just Brown who ended up on the wrong side of the fight’s most definitive blow. Though he lost, Brown really proved his value in this war. Cerrone is a top 10 contender, and this was a back-and-forth war. Despite his loss streak, Brown should still be squaring off with solid fighters, even if he should step away from top 10 opponents.
Last night, Donald Cerrone knocked out Matt Brown in the final round of a quality scrap. Can Cerrone capture the Welterweight strap?
For complete UFC 206 "Holloway vs Pettis" results and play-by-play, click HERE!