LAS VEGAS – Yet again, Donald Cerrone proved Saturday night that no matter who the opponent, he is the king of the Fight of the Night award. The lightweight impresario dug himself a deep hole against top contender Ed Ratcliff and was headed toward possible defeat (in his own mind at least) as the final two minutes of the fight ticked away. In MMA’s version of the two-minute drill, Cerrone stalked Ratcliff and scored a dramatic rear naked choke submission with little more than one minute remaining.
“I didn’t have no choice but to finish it because I was down two points. I was losing the fight,” Cerrone said afterward, taking time to apologize for the illegal knees that cost him two point deductions on the judges’ scorecards. “My hat’s off to Ed, he could have quit at any time and got me disqualified if he wanted to.”
The suspense brewed early, with Ratcliff, a considerable underdog, buckling Cerrone, a notoriously slow starter, with a powerful left to the jaw. In the first half of the round, the speedy Ratcliff seemed to be having his way with combinations. Midway through, the momentum shifted, with Cerrone gradually picking up steam, stalking the San Diegan with potent leg kicks and sizzling kicks to the rib area. Knees to the body were also scoring but cost Cerrone in a big way; two of those knees missed their mark and referee Herb Dean imposed a one-point deduction.
Again, in the second stanza, a Cerrone knee smashed into Ratcliff’s groin area, sending Ratcliff writhing on the canvas in pain. Dean again stepped in, deducting a second point from Cerrone – effectively meaning Cerrone would have to stop Ratcliff inside of the distance or probably not win the fight.
With Cerrone racing against the clock, the plot thickened. Ratcliff began to noticeably slow under Cerrone’s non-stop stalking and heavy blows. With Ratcliff weakening, Cerrone sunk in a tight guillotine choke
near the end of round two. The horn sounded, saving Ratcliff.
In round three, it became apparent that a fading Ratcliff, welts under both his eyes and struggling to circle away from his stalker, only needed to survive. But Cerrone kept coming. A flying knee by Cerrone was true, followed by a left hand that snapped Ratcliff’s head back. Then Cerrone wrestled Ratcliff to the canvas and cinched in a reverse triangle, combining it with a knee bar. Ratcliff escaped. Time was running out, and a determined Cerrone dragged the action to the canvas once more, this time locking in a rear naked choke at 3:47 of the third round that brought the crowd at Palms Casino Resort to their feet.
Cerrone, 10-2, moved closer to a shot at the WEC lightweight title and said he will be pulling for Benson Henderson to beat Jamie Varner in their title clash on Jan. 10 in Sacramento, Calif.
“I hope Ben wins,” Cerrone said. “I realize Jamie is just not a good guy.”
Ratcliff, meanwhile, did not claim the low blows contributed to his defeat.
“I ain’t making no excuses, man, he did what he was supposed to do,” he said. “Big ups to Donald. With the knees, I knew it wasn’t intentional.”
As it turns out, even if Cerrone had not finished Ratcliff, he would still have won the fight. Judges scored the fight 9-9 in both the first and second rounds. Cerrone would have won the third to pull out the fight, but was unaware of that during the fight, especially since the first round was relatively close.
