After winning his eight fight in a row on Saturday night, Donald Cerrone looks to finally have earned himself a lightweight title shot, but there’s a potential spanner in the works as current title holder Rafael Dos Anjos might not be ready to fight until the end of the year.
According to Ariel Helwani on the latest edition of the UFC Tonight show on FOX Sports 1, Dos Anjos is still not medically cleared after a torn MCL injury and so his camp is currently targeting a December return to action.
That news might not be met with much enthusiasm by ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone who’s always made it clear, both in words and actions, that he likes to stay busy and fight as often as possible. In fact six of the eight victories in his recent winning streak came in just over a year – a hectic fight calendar by anybody’s standards with most competitors managing three fights at most during that period.
Still, perhaps a seven month layoff might do the 32 year-old some good as he is carrying a few injuries and in fact his long-time coach Greg Jackson claimed earlier this week that Cerrone actually went into his fight with John Makdessi on Saturday night suffering from a bad rib injury.
It didn’t seem to effect his performance though as he managed to comfortably outstrike ‘The Bull’ before TKO’ing him with a head kick late in the second round, and knowing him, it wouldn’t be too big of a surprise if he decides that he does want to fight again prior to his title opportunity.
If so, one potential opponent has already thrown his hat into the ring as current lightweight No.5 Michael Johnson has made it known he wants what a title eliminator fight to establish a ‘real’ No.1 contender.
