UFC on ESPN+ 9 Preview
Donald Cerrone has become a fan favourite because of his willingness to be what every fighter claims that they want to be.
When careers start every fighter claims to be the person that will take any fight at any time.
That is usually the case for the majority of young careers as they are simply looking to make a name for themselves.
It starts to go away as they gain more experience and create a name for themselves putting more on the line in every fight.
As they grow their own name more people are watching which allows more people to see them win or lose.
If more people see them lose that name that they built can fall really quickly and even more so if the fight doesn’t make a lot of sense.
As much as it annoys fans the fight game is a strategic one where bigger names get to chose who they want to face.
In that respect, a fighter who is growing their career won’t want to take a fight that isn’t going to get them closer to the title.
They want to fight the big names and depending on where they stand they can get those fights.
Not only that but they can also pick and choose when they want to fight with most big names not wanting to fight in small cards.
For a fighter, the lifespan of their career is never that long so they don’t want to waste a fight against a smaller name in a place where nobody is watching.
The biggest fighters will fight on pay-per-views loaded with talent giving them more eyeballs and helping them grow into a fighter who can fight in the biggest fights.
It is all about getting the best out of their careers while their careers last and being able to make the most money.
Although many start out just looking to fight when fighting becomes a business that attitude begins to change.
It is hard to fault a fighter for doing what is best for them in the long run but there is always a different level of love and respect for those fighters who never change that attitude.
Cerrone is one of the few fighters who has never changed his attitude when it came to fighting as he has been the same man from the start to the finish.
When he started out his career he was a wild man who was on wakeboards and ATVs in between fights.
He made his UFC debut in 2011 and soon decided to treat it less like a hobby and more like a business, focusing on training rather than the extra stuff.
That didn’t really work out and Cerrone decided he needed to return to what made him such an exciting and compelling fighter.
He created his own training facility at his ranch and continue to do all of the extra stuff as a way to unwind.
Meanwhile, he took every fight the UFC offered him no matter who it was against or where it was going to take place.
He might not win every fight that he takes and sometimes nobody sees what he does but there is no doubt that fans pay attention when Cerrone is on a card.
Although he might not be on a card that is widely watched the highlights of what he’s done usually make the rounds soon after his fights.
When it comes to a fighter with that attitude of anyone and anywhere there is nobody truer to that than Cerrone.
He proves it once again as he heads to Ottawa for an ESPN+ card against a very tough and game opponent in Al Iaquinta.
After two straight wins, he seems like he’s just about to make a real run at a title and he could make that run if he takes a win over Iaquinta.
The man who looked by far the better than anyone has against Khabib Nurmagomedov, at least in the stand-up game, has his own shot at another title challenge.
When Cerrone fights people pay attention and putting him against a fighter like Iaquinta is almost a guarantee for a great fight.
Although most of the time that is a recipe for disaster the fact is that Cerrone is not afraid of losing he just wants to fight because he is the fighter that treats this as more than just a business with too much fun to be had stepping into the octagon.
The Sport Addiction 