After beating up Al Iaquinta in the main event of UFC Ottawa, lightweight contender Donald Cerrone used his post-fight interview to take the opportunity to call out rival Conor McGregor for an upcoming summer fight. Cerrone called out McGregor after beating Alexander Hernandez in his last fight on the first ESPN+ card in UFC history, but got Iaquinta instead. But after the way he dominated Iaquinta, the UFC would be foolish to pass on a potential Cerrone vs. McGregor bout.
A fight between Cerrone and McGregor just makes so much sense. It goes without saying they are both two of the best and most successful mixed martial artists of all time. Cerrone is the UFC’s all-time wins leader with 23 victories inside the Octagon, while McGregor is a former double champion in the lightweight and featherweight divisions. They have both been fighting at the highest level of the sport for years, but have never met inside the Octagon for whatever reason. This is not a fight that may have made sense in years past, but Cerrone vs. McGregor is the fight to book in 2019. It just makes too much sense for the UFC to pass on.
Not only are they both two of the most talented and successful fighters to step into the Octagon, they are two of the most popular, as well. The fans absolutely love both McGregor and Cerrone. McGregor is the top pay-per-view draw in MMA history and even though he hasn’t won a fight in a couple of years, it doesn’t matter. While Cerrone may not be a proven PPV draw, he’s still absolutely someone the fans want to watch compete, and we see that based on his gate numbers and attendance figures, not to mention his social media metrics. He just needs a chance to fight a big name in a PPV main event, something that has eluded him his entire career. McGregor is always going to draw eyeballs towards him, and while Cerrone hasn’t proven to be a PPV draw, he certainly has the potential to be. If Cerrone gets the opportunity to fight someone like McGregor on PPV, there’s no doubt that MMA fans would pay to tune in and watch.
Cerrone has been the ultimate company soldier for the UFC, and he deserves the reward of fighting McGregor in what would be one of the UFC’s biggest fights this summer. Cerrone deserves to make more money considering how exciting he is, and fighting McGregor would give him the chance to finally be in a money fight. The UFC doesn’t want to book McGregor in a main event if it’s not for a title, but I don’t know one fan who wouldn’t want to see this fight for five rounds. Ultimately, MMA fans just want to watch great fights, and there’s no doubt McGregor and Cerrone would put on a great fight. The UFC has an easy fight to book here, and should take the bait to do so.
Cerrone has been on fire in his last couple of fights and has earned the opportunity to take on McGregor with a lot of money on the line. He’s someone who has fought anyone, anytime for the last decade in the UFC and with him saying that his family is important to him, it makes sense he’s been calling out the biggest draw in the sport in McGregor. He’s earned it. McGregor, meanwhile, needs a high-profile but winnable fight after losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Floyd Mayweather his last two outings, and Cerrone is the perfect guy. The fans have spoken up and said they want this fight and it’s a fight both fighters seem to want. The matchup makes far too much sense to ignore, and the UFC matchmakers need to book it.
