36-year-old UFC fan favorite Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone is a considerable underdog in his UFC 246 main event bout against returning superstar Conor McGregor on Saturday night, but Cowboy plans on delivering a thrilling show, win or lose, in Las Vegas.
During an appearance on ESPN’s First Take on Wednesday, Cerrone said he wants to test McGregor – who is regarded as one of the best strikers in the sport – in an upright fight to see if he can pull off a win. If Cowboy and McGregor do indeed stay off the ground, the likelihood of a knockout finish is high – and Cerrone predicts he’ll take out McGregor with a head kick.
“The whole world wants to say Conor’s ground game is where he’s suspect, but I think [in] the 12 months he’s had off, he’s put a lot of time into that, put a lot of energy into wrestling and his jiu jitsu. I don’t know man, the guy’s a great striker, gonna come out there and try to knock my head off, so I’m just going to try to evade it, head kick him and go home with a victory…. Getting on the ground would be fun, but I’d rather just stay [upright]. I’ve gotta know. I want to know, I want to know can I do it? I’ve got a lot more weapons standing up than he does, I can kick, elbow, knee. He’s just got good hands, so we’ll see.”
Max Kellerman challenged Cerrone on his strategy, asking whether it would be wiser to try and take down McGregor and test his ground game, but Cerrone said that analysts are off base on just how easy it is to get McGregor down.
“The world’s funny, just like you guys sitting there saying that ‘Cowboy, you should go in there and just take him down.’ You act like I can just walk in the cage, slip a couple punches and just take the guy down. You don’t think he’s been working his wrestling? You don’t think he’s been working his ground game?”
