Jorge Masvidal on near TKO in first: Donald Cerrone ‘wasn’t there’

Jorge Masvidal knew Donald Cerrone didn’t have all his senses entering the second round of their fight at Saturday’s UFC event in Denver, Colo.

Masvidal, who fought Cerrone in the co-main event of UFC on FOX 23, pulled off the upset in his bout with the top-five welterweight, earning a second-round technical knockout.

It was an exciting fight that packed good moments for both fighters, but it also had a controversial moment. In the final seconds of round one, Masvidal clipped “Cowboy” with a punch and dropped him to the canvas. Masvidal then followed up with ground-and-pound, and while Cerrone seemed close to being knocked out, referee Herb Dean stepped in and stopped the action a second before the bell rang. Many thought Dean had signaled the end of the bout, and were confused to see the fight go on to a second round.

Masvidal gives credit to Cerrone for continuing to fight, as he saw Cerrone wasn’t fully there when he got up and walked to his corner.

“What was weird to me, is that when Herb pulled me, it’s only a second and you think ‘Oh, man, it’s only a second’, but that second he pulls me off and then the bell rings, you could see it on the replay, so that second lands me another two punches,” Masvidal said in the post-fight conference. “Hat is off to ‘Cowboy’ for even getting up because I looked into his soul when he got up and he wasn’t there, and when he came up, he wasn’t there, so he’s a warrior.”

Now with a win over a top-five welterweight, Masvidal finds himself in a good position, but is not sure on who he wants to face next. However, he is sure that he only wants big fights.

“The bigger the fight, the better,” Masvidal said. “My coaches know when it’s a big fight, I’m at the gym because if they give me some pretender, another actor, I might not take it. That’s why I told Dana, if you want me to fight, take me up on this $200,000 bet that you can’t find nobody in the welterweight division that can beat me, nobody.”