Donald Cerrone was born a fighter, and last night’s breaking news proves it once again. The UFC announced late Monday night that Eddie Alvarez is injured and out of his UFC Fight Night 59 bout against Benson Henderson, and Henderson’s new opponent is none other than Donald Cerrone, who takes the fight on less than two weeks’ notice following his victory on Saturday over Myles Jury at UFC 182. The event takes place January 18 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, and Cerrone vs. Henderson will be the co-headliner under the main event between Conor McGregor and Dennis Siver. First off, I just have to say that Cerrone is an incredible fighter, an amazing athlete, and an incredibly-durable human being. Most fighters would have said no to fighting Henderson on two weeks’ notice — especially after having just fought — but instead Cerrone said, “Let’s go.” A winner of six-straight fights, Cerrone was likely next in line for a title shot or at least a No. 1 contender’s fight. Instead, he’ll risk both of those possibilities for a fight against Henderson, the same man who beat him twice in the WEC. And you know what? Even though Henderson beat him twice before, and even though Henderson has had a full camp, and even though Cerrone is taking this on short notice after having just fought Jury, I still lean towards Cerrone in this fight. It’s not an easy fight, obviously, but I think right now Cerrone is just on another level and I think he’s catching Henderson at a good time, and I honestly think he wins the fight. As far as a line goes, that will be coming out in the next day or two, but I expect it to be close. Henderson has the two wins over Cerrone and stylistically can give “Cowboy” problems, but with Cerrone’s momentum it’s extremely hard to go against him. To me, Cerrone should be favored going into this fight, even considering how the pair’s two prior bouts went, just because of how good he’s looked. But I’m not sure how the betting public thinks about it, and with the amount of respect Henderson typically gets in his bouts, this fight is likely to be a Pick ’em. I think it should slightly lean towards Cerrone, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Henderson does enter the bout as a slight favorite just because of how the first two fights went. Regardless of who opens as the favorite, this is going to be an absolutely awesome fight and the only thing I wish was different was that this fight was for five rounds and not three. But hey, you can’t have everything, right? At least we have Cerrone, though. What a fighter. I wish there were more like him. An absolute stud, and a guy who could be in the UFC Hall of Fame when it’s all said and done.
