Cerrone: 'Varner’s Praying That I Lose'

By Frank Curreri

For Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, his sworn enemy is his inspiration. The lanky Coloradan is set to collide with Benson Henderson on Saturday in San Antonio, but as has been the case for months, he speaks sparingly about his next opponent and tends to devote far more time happily reiterating his disdain for WEC lightweight champ Jamie Varner. Every chance he gets, the No. 1 contender lobs a verbal grenade at his archrival.

“He’s still a punk b----, man,” Cerrone said. “I respect him as a fighter but not as a person … There’s a lot of frustration. I wanted to fight him first and then he was injured. And I wanted to fight him again and he was injured again. So I’ll have to keep waiting and he can be on his knees praying that I lose” to Henderson.

Varner’s shadow will loom large over the five-round main event. The champ, who successfully defended his title against Cerrone in a thrilling but controversial five-rounder in January, is scheduled to be in San Antonio sitting cageside. The winner of the interim title bout is assured a crack at Varner, who hasn’t fought in nine months following hand injuries sustained against Cerrone. Given the toxic relationship between Varner and Cerrone, a championship rematch between the two would be, by far, the biggest grudge match in the WEC’s 10-year history. All that stands between that super-charged sequel is Benson Henderson, a slick grappler who boasts a 9-1 record and impressed with a come-from-behind TKO win over Shane Roller in his last bout.

“I’m definitely not overlooking him, man,” Cerrone said. “He’s a dark horse coming in. I’m not overlooking him. I just look towards Varner because Varner is the guy who gives me my inspiration everyday to get up and I know that by getting through Ben, then I can get to Varner. That’s how it works.”

Unlike Varner, Cerrone harbors no vitriol or ill will toward Henderson. In fact, when the matchup was first announced this summer, Cerrone fired an upbeat text message to his new opponent.

Wrote Cerrone: “It’s me and you buddy. Hope you’re healthy and injury-free and have a good training camp. Good luck man.”

But the question is posed to Cowboy: Won’t you find something to dislike about Henderson, even during the walk to the cage?

“Nah, man, he’s a good dude,” Cerrone said. “We lived in the same city – both of us are from Colorado Springs (Colorado). He’s a good, religious guy. I don’t have any problem with him at all.”

Cerrone’s game plan is the same as always: Punch you in the face. Kick you in the face or body. Repeat as necessary. And yet – go figure – nine of the guy’s 10 wins happen to be by submission, which speaks highly of his Plan B.

Because Cerrone is so dangerous in two realms, it creates more intrigue as to Henderson’s plan of attack.

“He’s got an awesome ground game and he’s a superior wrestler,” Cerrone conceded. “He’s submitted quite a few of his guys (six). The only thing he’s lacking in his stand-up. He will probably try to take me down and control me, or submit me, or get me to tap due to strikes.”
Henderson didn’t completely tip his hand, but claimed he would be comfortable trading punches with Cerrone. He effusively praised Cerrone’s fearless and fast-paced presence in the cage.

“I love his game, his Terminator style,” Henderson said. “He just keeps coming forward. It takes a lot of heart to do that in a cage. You don’t see a lot of fighters with that style. He has great Muay Thai and kickboxing and his jiu-jitsu is really underrated; I think his jiu-jitsu is a lot better than most people give him credit for.

“I’m not going to take anything for granted or say, ‘Oh yeah, my wrestling is better than his.’ I’m pretty sure he’s been working on his wrestling a lot. I know he has a really great camp to work with, I know he has some awesome wrestlers to work with. So I’m not going to assume that my wrestling is better than his.

“But as far as standing up with him, trading some blows, I would love to. I’m not a wrestler who wants to take guys down and hold them there. I would like to show some other skills as well.”

Cerrone, meanwhile, gives his wrestling a lot less credit than that. For years he’s been trying to develop great takedown defense. And, training alongside such partners as Joe “Daddy” Stevenson, Leonard Garcia, Aaron Riley and Cub Swanson, he has emphasized takedown prevention for Saturday night. But he doesn’t think he will be able to stop Henderson from taking the bout to the canvas.

“Oh, he’s definitely taking me down, man. That’s for sure,” Cerrone said. “I’d say takedown defense is good, man, I’ve been working on it. Shoot, I’ve been working on it for awhile now and it doesn’t seem to work. I get real tall and I throw a lot of kicks, so both those reasons are why it’s not any good.”

Get ready for a contradiction. Here is how Cerrone sees himself winning the fight.

“I’m going to try to not get taken down and to knock him out. Second round knockout. He’s going to come out hard and fast in the first round. I have to hit him with some body shots, slow him down and then catch him.”

Cerrone called himself a “slow starter” and said he prefers five rounders to three rounders. During an interview days before the fight, he acknowledged being “scared to (bleeping) death,” as he usually is leading up to a bout. But as the moment of truth inches closer, he expects to dial in, like always, and be consumed with courage.

“I just look at it as getting a shot at bitch-ass Varner, that’s what it means to me. I just want to avenge my loss and beat his face in, you know?” said Cerrone, who addressed why he thinks it has taken Varner’s broken hand so long to heal. “I don’t even know what to think about that any more. I didn’t know it takes a year for a hand to heal. He breaks his hand, gets surgery and then drives home and smashes it into a concrete wall and then breaks it again (sounding facetious). I don’t know what he could possibly do to keep breaking your hand. It only takes eight weeks for a hand to heal. I have broken my hand and I’ve asked several doctors that I’ve went to, ‘Worst case, how long does it take for a hand to heal? And they tell me eight weeks, even if you have to go back and have surgery on it.”