Since Cerrone’s UFC debut, some of the men most synonymous with warriors have been Robbie Lawler, Jeremy Stephens, Eddie Alvarez, Justin Gaethje, Tony Ferguson and Mike Perry.
Cerrone has fought all of them.
Cerrone has more performance bonuses than anybody to set foot in the Octagon and if you’re a casual fan who has only seen half of his fights in the UFC you’ve been treated to at least two performances that topped everybody else on the card.
In the most recent of memories, Cerrone has faced three of the most dangerous men in the lightweight division and twice brought home Fight of the Night honors. The man who is seemingly allergic to boring fights isn’t new to this, however. The casual fan is likely unaware that Cerrone has been stealing the show since his WEC days.
When Cerrone was matched up against former champion Robert McCullough, he said in his promo it was a war he was after. The then 8-0 (1) budding star got his wish in a fight that had all the elements of a stepping stone fight for McCullough.
Whether it was his pace, hand placement or ground game, it seemed Cerrone couldn’t do enough to impress the commentators who didn’t even bother to learn his name. Daniel/David Cerrone, as he was referred to, introduced himself officially to the WEC that night with a fight that sent McCullough into obscurity, himself into a title challenger and a warrior.
Both men wearing their own blood and finding themselves in fight-threatening trouble multiple times… In the first round alone, it was clear that WEC was introducing the world to a true BMF. It would be far from the last time Cerrone left fight fans asking themselves, “how is he still going?”
