Before his UFC 137 fight against Dennis Siver, Donald Cerrone said he would teach Siver what real kickboxing was like. He bragged that Siver used more flashy moves that weren't that effective, including bashing one of the best spinning back-kicks in MMA. And from bell to stoppage, Cerrone backed up his words with his kickboxing. He came in with a gameplan and executed it perfectly. Though he won the fought by a rear naked choke, both knockdowns he scored against Siver were set up by the often ignored inside leg kick.
GIFs and Analysis after the jump.
Just 45 seconds into the fight, after a short "feeling out" period, Cerrone lands a big combination that knocks Siver off balance into a pretty little dance. Cerrone seems to surprise Siver with an inside leg kick. As Siver instinctively lowers his hands, even though he only moved them down 3 or 4 inches and it was only for a fraction of a second, Cowboy found the hole and landed a brutal head kick that landed shin to the side of Siver's jaw. Eventually after this exchange, Siver grabbed a leg and clinched against the fence before sort of regaining his senses. So he went back to standup. And then...
A minute later after the first knockdown, Cerrone throws another inside leg kick. Once again, it prompted Siver to throw his hands out a little, and Cowboy found the shot again, this time with a right hook that put Siver to the mat, staggering. This set up the fight ending RNC.
The way this fight happened tells me that Cerrone found the chink in Siver's armor watching the tape and he executed perfectly, propelling himself up the lightweight ranks. And the recently announced bout with Nate Diaz at UFC 141 is gonna be a good one.
GIFS via IronForgesIron.com
Check out my blog at rubberguard.blogspot.com.
*DISCLAIMER* I am by no means a kickboxing expert, I'm just telling it how I saw it.




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