UFC lightweight contender Donald (Cowboy) Cerrone is a straightforward character. He says what he feels and means what he says.
As he puts it, he has a “don’t give a (expletive)” attitude.
That sentiment will be on full display on Saturday at UFC 150 at the Pepsi Center in Denver as he tries to knockout one of his close friends, Melvin Guillard.
“We’re good friends. Other than that I have no problem punching him in the face. I don’t see a problem with that at all,” Cerrone told sportsnet.ca in a phone interview.
Cerrone and Guillard trained together for three years at Jackson’s Submission Fighting and MMA in Albuquerque, N.M., under the tutelage of Greg Jackson. From about 2009-2011 they sparred on average three to four times a week and became close friends.
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It does happen occasionally, but it’s typically unusual in MMA for teammates and friends to fight one another. Many fighters, including Georges St-Pierre, have a firm stance against fighting those they’re close to.
Cerrone said he and Guillard simply have a different outlook. The two spoke briefly when they agreed to the fight and the gist of the conversation was, “Let’s go get paid.”
“Isn’t that how everything in life is? All about making money,” Cerrone explained. “When the UFC gives you $100,000 extra to finish your opponent, I have no problem doing it.”
Guillard recently moved to Florida to join Rashad Evans and the Blackzilians, so he and Cerrone haven’t been teammates for a while.
The 29-year-old former WEC star said he hasn’t given much thought to how Guillard’s style has changed because he feels he knows him well enough already.
“I learned the holes in his game. What to train for, what to do, what to get ready to do for training. I haven’t seen his last few fights and I’m sure there will be a change (in Melvin’s style). He’s super athletic and comes hard but we’ll see.
“I haven’t really given much thought to what Melvin’s going to do. I just know how he fights and what I’m going to do to counter that. If he comes hard, go ahead. If he comes not so hard, it doesn’t matter to me.”
Cerrone (18-4, 1 NC) has won seven of his last eight bouts with his only loss being a unanimous decision loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 141 in what was a Fight of the Night performance.
Despite starting his combat sports career as a kickboxer, Cerrone has 13 wins by submission. On the other hand, nine of Guillard’s 10 career losses have come by submission.
“Melvin’s tough man, even if he gets overzealous sometimes and gets caught and that’s how he gets submitted,” Cerrone said. “Hopefully he’s fixing that problem and we’ll see, but I feel very superior on the ground than him.”
Guillard has been vocal about wanting to turn the fight into a brawl but Cerrone said he feels he has superior striking and he wants to display that on Saturday by picking Guillard apart.
Cerrone, a native of Colorado who will be fighting in front of his home fans for the first time since WEC 51 in 2010, has been one of the top lightweights for several years but is in no rush to earn a title shot.
“I’m just looking for exciting fights. A title will come. If you keep winning they’ll bring it.”
UFC 150 is headlined by a lightweight title fight between Benson Henderson and Frankie Edgar. Cerrone has fought Henderson twice and says the fans are in for a treat. “I think it’s going to be a hell of scrap.”
He’s not making any predictions, but Cerrone believes Edgar will be in tough against Henderson. “Ben has a pretty non-stop pace and he’s got a hell of a submission defence.”
Cerrone has recently been in a war of words with former WEC lightweight champion and current UFC contender Anthony Pettis. Cerrone has wanted to fight Pettis for a while but feels Pettis and his camp is ducking a fight with him.
Despite some of his focus being directed toward Pettis he’s not overlooking Guillard.
“I’m not overlooking Melvin at all and (expletive) Anthony Pettis.”
Cerrone added that he plans on calling Pettis out after his scrap with Guillard.
