UFC 131: Donald Cerrone Vs Vagner Rocha BREAKDOWN
By Siri Karri
UFC 131 is on Saturday, June 11th. Like our last breakdown series, we’re going to try and work from the first fight on the main event all the way back up. The night is going to start out with two talented lightweights Donald Cerrone and Vagner Rocha.
What Donald Cerrone Brings to the Table
Donald Cerrone, quite simply put, is an enormous lightweight. At six feet tall with a 73 inch reach, he dwarfed every single opponent in the Octagon. More often than not, strikers in the division find themselves unable to get in on Cerrone while grapplers find themselves wrapped up in a variety of submissions from his gangly limbs.
Unlike most of the fighters who are considered “tall” for their division like 6′ 6″ Kendall Grove at 185 and 6′ 11″ Stefan Struve at 255, Cerrone does not sacrifice athleticism. What sometimes happens with excessively tall fighters is that while they enjoy a significant reach advantage is that they slow down, looking as though they are wading through water and as a result they get hammered by the more compact competition. Cerrone on the other hand, has 5 round cardio and explosive power both in his strikes and submission attempts.
Despite his above average striking, Cerrone’s true weapons are on the ground; every single one of his finishes in the WEC came by submission. His long, powerful legs can contort and control his opponents as he sinks in a variety of chokes and bars. His decisions are no slouches either, with 3 of his decision fights winning fight of the night and his title fight with Ben Henderson winning fight of the year.
Overall, Cerrone is a physical specimen whom many in the lightweight division are simply manhandled by.
What Vagner Rocha brings to the Table
I’m going to try my best with this, but understand that Rocha does not have a lot of fights and of those only one is for what I’d call a “high level” organization (Strikeforce). It’s been hell getting a hold of his fight videos, so if my description sounds vague it’s because I have very little to work with.
Vagner is probably the tallest lightweight after Cerrone at 5′ 11″. As a man FROM Brazil who has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu it makes sense that 4 out of his 6 wins are via submission. He also holds a TKO victory over Bellator opponent Francisco Soares, which indicates somewhat of a well-rounded game.
Literally, that’s all I can say about this guy. He’s so obscure that all the videos on him are nothing more than grappling videos. If anyone can find any footage of this guy, please drop a link in the comment section below.
Prediction
I’m not analyzing the “X-Factor” on this matchup; Cerrone is more experienced, has better wins over better opponents and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is the better athlete. Vagner is certainly a talented submission artist, but I believe Cerrone will easily overwhelm this UFC newcomer.
Cerrone via 2nd round Submission