Point: Struggle with southpaws for ‘Cowboy’
For those who’ve been following Cerrone’s career, it’s no secret that the skilled kickboxer has tended to struggle against southpaws stylistically, holding a record of 4-9 against UFC-level lefties (which could easily stand at 3-10 when looking at his last fight with Benson Henderson).
Cerrone has also been TKO’d in 4 of his last 6 losses (which only dates back to 2017), something that could portend trouble for him should he decide to stay on the feet with a southpaw who – despite being known for his counters – is very competent when it comes to using and playing with pressure.
Counterpoint: McGregor against kickers?
When looking over McGregor’s resume, his sample size is deceptively devoid of Thai-style kickboxers. It also doesn’t help that his fights with high-level strikers and competent kickers have mostly tended to end early and in his favor.
Still, when looking over the numbers, one statistic stood out to me: leg kicks.
Cerrone, who holds the UFC record for most leg kicks landed inside of the octagon, doesn’t tend to dwindle in that department when posed with an opposite-stance opponent. Whereas McGregor, though winning the majority of the exchanges he takes part in, typically gives a lot away in both the distance and leg kick categories.
In fact, Holloway, Dustin Poirier and Dennis Siver all scored 90-plus percent of their offense at distance, while legs kicks led in both in the lands and percentage fields when each fighter faced the famed Irishman. I also noticed that Conor, when he did choose to counter kicks, often did so with trip takedowns – something that he may think twice about given Cerrone’s dangerous guard game.
Next page: Welterweight advantages and disadvantages
[vertical-gallery id=330082]