The UFC 160 card headlined by the Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva versus Cain Velasquez 2 UFC heavyweight title match on May 25th in Las Vegas, Nevada has added a match between lightweights KJ Noons and Donald ‘The Cowboy’ Cerrone. Both men are known as potent stand-up fighters, and both are coming off a loss in their last outing that set them back in their careers. Now, they may both be literally fighting for their UFC jobs. Let’s take a closer look at the matchup. Cerrone is one of the more popular UFC fighters, but his loss to Anthony Pettis in roughly three minutes this past January at UFC on FOX 6 was a step back for ‘The Cowboy.’ Pettis put an end to the hot streak of Cerrone, who was 8-1 in his last nine bouts prior to that, with his one loss, to Nate Diaz, propelling the opponent into a title shot. To get his name being mentioned again when it comes to the title picture, Cerrone really needs to avoid starting a losing streak. As for Noons, he is likely in the UFC for a one-and-done deal if he loses this fight. No offense to Noons, who is a good fighter who had a lot of potential early in his career, but he is on a 1-4 run in his last five fights. In his last outing, he lost a split decision to Ryan Couture, but UFC president Dana White and many, many other observers thought Noons won the match. He has also lost decisions to Josh Thompson, Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz in current losing skid, so while he has been fighting top guys he still has not been able to get a win in there lately. Both men are fighters that like to mix it up in the stand up, but height and reach are not really a factor, as both men are about 5’11. The strongest facet to his game that Noons possesses is his boxing. Earlier in his MMA career, he flirted with a professional boxing career, but nothing ever came of it, and as pointed out earlier, his fighting has not been popular with the judges as of late. Cerrone is a good stand-up fighter as well, and he has good kicks and in contrast, brings a style that has finished a lot of fights instead of letting it go to the judges. Should the fight go to the ground, Cerrone will have his submission game to work with, while Noons will work to stand up if it goes to the ground. Cerrone appears to have more outs. The loss to Pettis is not a great setback for Cerrone if he gets this win over Noons. Henderson is busy with SF champion Gilbert Melendez, and other top contenders include Gray Maynard (who may be going down a weight class), Nate Diaz and Jim Miller, so Cerrone would insert himself right in that mix. The UFC recently released about 16 athletes, and there are reports of more cuts on the way. A fighter like Noons would be in high risk territory should he lose. When the lines come out at the sportsbooks, Cerrone is certain to be a favorite in this fight, and by a good margin. We will see which way the line moves after it is released. Cerrone is a popualr bet traditionally, but it will be interesting to see if his bandwagon has lost some steam come off this loss to Pettis. One thing is for certain, should Cerrone drop this fight, the bandwagon will have more than a few leapers.
