Donald Cerrone gave KJ Noons a tough first outing in the Octagon this evening at UFC 160, beating him up for three rounds to claim a unanimous decision victory.
Cerrone presses forward immediately in the opening round only to be met with a few leg kicks from Noons. Cerrone fires back with one of his own and then attempts a takedown before landing a nice knee instead.
Both men exchanging kicks frequently. high kick grazes Noons face. He’s ok though and soon after he goes upstairs with a kick himself that’s blocked.
Cerrone fakes a takedown and then lands a punch. Noons lands a nice knee to the body. Kick to the midsection from Cerrone in return.
Charging forward, Cerrone scores with a takedown, but Noons does well to scramble quickly to his feet, though he eats a punch on the way up.
Couple of leg kicks land with authority for Cerrone. Another good knee from Noons though.
Flurry of punches from Cerrone and then a high kick behind them. Soon after Cerrone tries another high kick that just clips his opponent. Noons lands with a superman punch just as the bell brings an end to a busy round one.
Onto the second round and Cerrone immediately gets a takedown. Cerrone’s attempting to take his back, but Noons is tough to keep down and gets back upright.
Noons trying to press forward and put Cerrone on the back foot, but he’s met with a solid punch to keep him at bay. He continues to move forward, but He’s abandoning some of his technical striking here and Cerrone’s picking away at him nicely while keeping his distance.
Noons has had a cut to the side of his right eye for much of the fight and he’s continually rubbing at it now as if blood might be getting into it.
Cerrone continuing to pick him off, but Noons keeps moving forward regardless. He lands a solid spinning back fist, but Cerrone’s ok.
A big takedown landed by Cerrone and this time he holds Noons down. He lands some ground and pound and grinds him down as the round comes to a close.
In-between rounds Noons complains he can’t see out of his right eye due to the blood. The referee questions him, but he confirms he wants to continue and so it’s on to round three.
A few jabs from Cerrone land to start the third. Noons still looking a bit lethargic out there, but he’s still trying. He wings a few hooks and a couple land, but shortly afterwards Cerrone ducks in and secures a takedown.
From inside Noons guard Cerrone is picking his moments to land some big elbows to the head. Noons tries to scramble free, but is unable to and his face is now streaked with blood. More elbows landing from Cerrone and Noons tries to land some of his own to the top of his opponent’s head from his back.
To the body Cerrone goes and then back to the head with another hard elbow. Another scramble, but Noons just can’t get this fight back upright again.
In the final minute Cerrone works to side control, but mercifully for Noons he doesn’t go all out for the finish and he makes it to the final bell.
Good performance from ‘Cowboy’ here and he picks up a convincing unanimous decision win (30-27 x2, 30-26).
