The UFC Fight Night 59 event scheduled for Boston on Jan. 18 now has lines up for the reconstituted co-main event between Donald Cerrone and Benson Henderson. Right now, Cerrone is a slight underdog at (+115), with Henderson paying back (-145). The over/under is set at 2.5 rounds for this scheduled three-rounder, with the over odds at (-205) and the under at (+165).
Cerrone made huge news taking this fight with less than three weeks rest from his previous outing, which was at Saturday’s UFC 182. The fact is that he has two losses on his record to Henderson and trying to get a win on an old nemesis under these types of circumstances really benefit Cerrone this time around. Henderson is a more cerebral, methodical fighter who usually likes to work to his game plan, while Cerrone is much more of an instinctual fighter. The chaos level here is an X-factor on Cerrone’s side.
Henderson will have a lot to talk about if he wins. First of all, he deserves kudos for accepting the fight, as no less an example than Jon Jones exists as a fighter who preferred to not accept a new opponent on short notice. Henderson could easily have claimed that Alvarez and Cerrone are completely different and he needs a training camp specifically for Cerrone, but he didn’t. Henderson is coming off a fast loss to Rafael dos Anjos that was particularly damaging because the two in a row he had won had not completely erased the impression that he lost his belt without much of a fight to Anthony Pettis. Henderson desperately needs to avoid losing two fights in a row or he will fall from the top five in the weight class with a thud.
Cerrone really has nothing to lose in this one. A loss will always have the asterick that he had fought a few days prior. If he wins, he is doibng unprecedented things at this level and that deserves kudos. And if he wins and is unscathed, you can look for the crazy cowboy to push the UFC for a fight Feb. 14 in his homestate of Colorado.
Here is a video news piece from the Fight Network that gets into the details on the Cerrone vs Henderson fight now coming up in less than two weeks:
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