'Cowboy' Cerrone to Anthony Pettis: "I'll see you again"
As UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis was gearing up for his return to the Octagon a few weeks ago at UFC 182 he was doing his best to remind everybody watching why he was not only the best 155-pounder on the planet, but also the most lethal.
Sitting out for over a year seemed to leave a foggy impression in some people's minds, so Pettis touted a few of his more infamous wins as a gentle nudge of what he was capable of doing.
One of those examples happened to be his last fight before winning the title when he dispatched of Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone in January 2013 with a vicious body kick that cut the veteran fighter in half and ended the fight at just 2:35 into the first round.
"Look at (Donald) Cerrone -- Cerrone's supposed to be one of the best kickboxers in the division, and I ended that fight in three minutes," Pettis said in early December. "A couple body kicks and that was it. I was just warming up."
Now as Cerrone prepares for his own bout at UFC 182 against Myles Jury, the comments that Pettis made came up again. A loss is never easy to swallow, but sometimes it's that much tougher when the winner mentions details about the fight nearly two years after it took place.
"I didn't even know he was saying those things so that goes to show how much I give a s--t about him. It's true, whatever," Cerrone said about Pettis' comments.
Cerrone has never been one to play much into the verbal back and forth that goes on in so many fights so he definitely wasn't going to take the bait when hearing from Pettis.
In a refreshing response, Cerrone actually defends Pettis' right to say those things because he's not promoting an untrue statement. There's no sugarcoating the fact that Cerrone had a really bad night against Pettis and if the champion chooses to relive it, that's his prerogative.
"There's nothing I can say to that mother-----r. He did beat me in under three minutes. He kicked me and I dropped," Cerrone said. "I can't beat around the bush and say 'oh well he did this or he did that'. The son of a b---h beat me. I can't even rebut him."
Cerrone will only fire back in one way and that's with an eventual rematch that might very well happen in 2015.
If Cerrone gets past Jury on January 3, it will mark his sixth win in a row including four fighters currently ranked in the top 10 of the division. While his last loss to Pettis will certainly loom overhead for any potential rematch, if Cerrone keeps going on the streak he's been on lately there's no way the UFC can deny him a shot at the belt.
Only then will he answer back to Pettis for what he's been saying lately.
"We're going to fight again. Absolutely. I'll be godd---ed if things don't go differently," Cerrone said. "He wants to say 'I beat Cowboy in under three minutes', whatever dude. I've got no rebuttal other than to say I'm going to keep fighting and I'll see you again."
As far as his matchup with Jury goes, Cerrone sees him as just another opponent no different than the last five people he's beaten. Jury might be a little bit younger and he will walk into the fight with an undefeated record, but the way Cerrone looks at it, everybody has to taste defeat at some point.
Jury's time is coming on January 3.
"I think he's the new breed, the new generation -- guys that are good at everything. Good at wrestling, good at jiu-jitsu, good stand-up, he's definitely trying to make a name," Cerrone said.
"Unfortunately, good doesn't beat great that's what I've got going for me. I'm going to hit him with the old man strength. You ever try to beat your dad up? It just don't happen. He's got that old man strength. I'm going to grab that little boy and throw him around the ring."
