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5 potential opponents for Donald Cerrone

Donald Cerrone is back on the winning track after beating Yancy Medeiros
Donald Cerrone is back on the winning track after beating Yancy Medeiros

After he picked up a big win this month – righting the ship following three straight losses – the question now becomes what’s next for Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone? It’s always hard to predict who will be Cowboy’s next opponent simply because he doesn’t care about “money fights” – he just fights anyone at any place and anytime.

Whether he’ll return to his old stomping ground of 155lbs or stick around at his current 170lbs – where he’s been since the start of 2016 – is a question mark right now but when you’ve got a fighter as exciting as Donald Cerrone, any number of opponents could work for him. Here are five possibilities.


#1: Jose Aldo

UFC 200: Tate v Nunes
If Jose Aldo moves to 155lbs a fight with Cowboy could make sense

With two straight losses to Featherweight champion Max Holloway, former 145lbs kingpin Jose Aldo’s time may be up at his usual weight class. He’s been teasing a move to 155lbs for years now, ever since he became dominant at 145lbs, and if he is to make the move in 2018 then why not match him with Cowboy for his debut there?

Think about it – it’d be a battle between two of the greatest Muay Thai artists in the UFC right now. Few men throw leg kicks as well as Aldo and Cerrone, and both men have used other weapons like the looping left hook and step-in knee to hurt their opponents too. Plus, Cerrone doesn’t mind a fight hitting the ground, and despite not showing a lot of it, Aldo is a genuine Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt.

Aldo isn’t going to get a Lightweight title shot straight away if he moves up, and while fights with the likes of Eddie Alvarez, Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier could also be fun, Aldo vs. Cerrone just sounds so much better than all of them. This kind of fight could easily do well as a headliner on ‘big’ Fox in the summer perhaps.

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