Cowboy, Cat hit UFC178
Cerrone, Zingano back on big stage with Las Vegas bouts
Cowboy Cerrone and Cat Zingano floated a boat ride together this week on LakeMead near Las Vegas. The two Colorado-born mixed martial arts fighters, days before their biggest bouts of the year, perhaps needed a breather from the rush of fight week.
They arrived at that boat, though, along wildly different paths.
DonaldCerrone, aDenver native known as “Cowboy” who nowtrains in Albuquerque, will fight for the fourth time this year Saturday when he goes against Ultimate Fighting Championships newcomer Eddie Alvarez as the co-main bout in UFC 178 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Zingano, who trains in Broomfield and Denver, will fight for the first time since the death of her husband. She goes against Brazil’s Amanda Nunes in a bantamweight (135 pounds) title eliminator.
“Even with everything I’ve been through, there is no doubt I wanted to come back,” Zingano said during the run-up to Saturday’s fights.
Zingano (8-0), a former wrestler at Boulder’s FairviewHigh, took downMieshaTate by technical knockout in April 2013 with a barrage of elbows and knees in the third round. She immediately earned a No. 2 ranking in UFC’s newly formed women’s bantamweight division, with a title bout against Ronda Rousey in the works.
But a knee injury suffered during training — she needed surgery after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right leg — bumped her off course. Tate replaced her in the pecking order. Then Zingano’s husband and coach, Mauricio Zingano, died in January. So her fight againstNunes (9-3) comes after a 17-month layoff.
“I’m coming in with a fresh mind,” said Zingano, 32.
Cerrone, a 31-year-old former pro kick boxer, has been much more active. Saturday’s fight will be his sixth in 13 months. He’s on a four-fight win streak.
“Just the physicality of fighting is something I really enjoy,” Cerrone told reporters in Las Vegas this week.
In a lightweight (155 pounds) bout against Alvarez (25-3), Cerrone (24-6) will be facing a former champion of rivalMMA circuit Bellator. Alvarez is known to be an aggressor — perhaps too much so.
“I take a lot of risks,” Alvarez said. “And so does Donald Cerrone.”