‘Cowboy’ finishes Miller with vicious headkick

Published on Thursday, 7/17/14, at 1:17 p.m. Eastern.

By Brian Edwards

Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone won his fourth consecutive fight last night by finishing Jim Miller with a second-round headkick in the main event at UFC Fight Night in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Cerrone hooked up his backers as a -240 favorite. I cashed an easy winner with ‘under’ 3.5 rounds (-140ish).

These exciting 155-pounders didn’t disappoint from the start. Both fighters landed big shots in heavy exchanges throughout the opening stanza. Miller used his jab effectively, while Cerrone was getting off with kicks up the middle.

In the second round, Cerrone caught Miller with a huge kick to the chest that floored Miller. However, the referee felt the kick might have caught Miller in the cup, but the replays showed that it landed clean. Nevertheless, Miller was given a few moments to recover.

Cerrone kept his cool, though. He clearly had Miller in pain and attempting to protect his body. ‘Cowboy’ stayed on the attack and faked a punch to the body, and then went high with a headkick that landed flush and floored Miller. Cerrone added on more strike before the ref intervened.

Cerrone, who is now 11-3 in the UFC, collected a fourth straight fight-night bonus. ‘Cowboy’ could be in line for a title-eliminator fight. On the flip side, Miller’s quest to get into title contention is probably gone forever. He’s still a top-10 lightweight but has been unable to break through in the biggest fights of his career.

In the co-main event, Edson Barboza got back into the win column by scoring a first-round KO of Evan Dunham with a sick liver kick. Barboza now owns a UFC-record four career wins via kicks. He cashed tickets as a favorite in the -260 range. The ‘under’ (2.5 rounds, -115 either way) was a winner.

In a welterweight clash, Rick Story captured a second-round submission victory over Leonardo Mafra. ‘The Horror’ hooked up his backers as a -375 ‘chalk.’