In his 53 professional MMA fight, Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone finally fought to a draw. Facing Niko Price in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 11, Cerrone and Price fought a grueling three rounds before turning it over to the judges for a decision.
Had it not been for a series of eye pokes by Price in the first round, Cerrone very easily could have found himself on the losing end of the bout. Instead, a point deduction for Price resulted in a majority draw (28-28 twice and 29-27 Cerrone).
Price opened the fight with an aggressive attack and caught Cerrone with multiple shots before Cowboy finally settled in. Two inadvertent eye pokes cost Price a point on the scorecards.
All three judges actually scored the first round 10-9 for Price but deducted a point for the two eye pokes, turning it into a 9-9. That proved to be the difference in the results. The scorecards revealed it would've been a split decision win for Price if not for the eye pokes.
From a fan perspective though, it was a fun fight to watch with steady action from both fighters. Ceronne clearly wasn't happy with the draw, but it was probably the right decision.
Niko Price, on the other hand, was thrilled and seemed to relish the opportunity to simply share the octagon with his idol. An adorable moment between the two backstage was captured on camera with Price telling Cowboy, "I really want to be you."
Cerrone now has a career record of 36-15-1 with 1 NC. After losing four fights in a row to very tough opponents (Tony Ferguson, Justin Gaethje, Conor McGregor and Anthony Pettis), Cerrone proved he can still hang with a top-20 fighter. It may not have been the decision he was hoping for, but watching Donald Cerrone is fun regardless of the outcome.