UFC
Jeremy Stephens says he's going to break Donald Cerrone at UFC on Fuel 3
May 14, 2012 - 10:10:12 AM Jeremy Stephens says he's going to break Donald Cerrone at UFC on Fuel 3

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Jeremy Stephens made his UFC debut almost five years ago, and in that five years he's fought 13 times inside the Octagon. A 7-6 record in those fights has him firmly in the middle of the pack in the UFC's lightweight division, but he always makes for a tough test for any opponent he's facing.

On Tuesday night in Fairfax, Va., he provides that test for Donald Cerrone, who will attempt to bounce back from a loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 141 last December. That loss snapped an impressive four-fight winning streak for Cerrone in 2011.

Stephens is out to keep him on the losing end of the streak this time around, and he believes Diaz provided the blueprint for doing just that.

"Just pressure. Pressure, pressure, pressure," Stephens said of the key to success against Cerrone in an interview with USA Today. "Come forward and just the constant tapping of just beating him up. No respect for his kicks, no respect for his punches. He (Diaz) got kicked in the head and just kept coming forward. Got tripped, knocked down, and just kept coming forward."

"When a guy's coming at you like Terminator, it could break your confidence a little bit. It breaks your momentum. Cowboy's a guy who likes to pressure guys, like to bully them. When he has that momentum, he's very dangerous. When I come forward, we're definitely going to collide. It's going to be who's coming forward and who has the lack of respect for each other's power."

Stephens thinks he'll be that man on Tuesday night, and he thinks his combination of pressure and lack of respect will lead to Cerrone breaking and suffering his second straight loss.

"I can tell you right now, I don't really care for his kicks," Stephens said. "I couldn't care less about his kicks. I couldn't care less about his punching power. And I'm going to break him."

Penick's Analysis: Stephens is always tough to figure out before fights. He's got some power, he's got good hand speed, he's got decent footwork, and he's solid on the ground. However, he often gets himself into trouble in close fights by not doing enough to fully establish himself as the winner of rounds. Because of that, he's had several split decision fights and he's lost some other close decisions. Against a fighter like Cerrone, he's going to need to outwork him for 15 minutes and leave no doubt that he won at least two rounds, otherwise he'll be setting himself up for disappointment once more.