Cerrone, who defeated Njokuani at a Ring of Fire event in 2007, compares Horodecki’s gaffe to his own mistake that allowed Ben Henderson to lock up a guillotine choke in the first round of their 155-pound title rematch at WEC 48.
“That’s the crazy thing about this sport,” he said. “I got caught slipping, and I got choked out by Ben. It’s the name of the game.”
A former muay Thai champion, Cerrone will try to use his length to keep the Team Tompkins fighter at bay. He believes that Horodecki’s compact frame might actually best be suited for featherweight.
“I definitely think he should be at 145. I have a huge reach on him, and I think that’s gonna play a big factor. I like to think my striking’s better than his. I’m gonna use my length as an advantage. I’m not gonna let him get inside on me,” said Cerrone.
I'm supporting Horodecki on this one, but Cowboy basically read my mind. Good thing is though that Horodecki could probably easily make 145 and it'd be in the UFC now.
I think he's probably right. While Horodecki looks to be in pretty good shape for a normal guy, when you're in a sport that revolves around guys cutting 15 lbs. in a day and outweighing you be upwards of 20 or more on fight day, I'd say he has plenty of room to drop down.
Horodecki comes down to 155. I think he'd have to cut off a leg to make 145. His wrestling is pretty damn good too. I'd say that Donald would be is trouble if he thought Horodecki's wrestling wasn't top notch.
It's going to be a good Scrap. Huge fan of both fighters. I want to say that Chris could probably make 145, but why would he do that at this point? He's done fine so far at that weight class, why change?
I think Cerrone wins this fight. He's said in the past that he's really been working on his wrestling and it showed in his last fight with Varner. As I recall, Cerrone was not only stopping Varner's takedowns but scoring his own takedowns as well.
Hopefully Cerrone continues to focus on wrestling because he'll need it to compete at the highest level in the UFC. It's hard to overstate the importance of wrestling in mma but that's especially true at 155 in the UFC. There are so many great wrestlers... Edgar, Maynard, Miller, Sherk, the list goes on and on.
Re-watching the fight today, Horodecki more than held his own against Cowboy in the first standing and Cowbow just couldn't finish Horodecki right away in the triangle which makes me think that Horodecki was giving him huge trouble. Cowboy has a great triangle and had trouble finishing Horodecki with it, imo.