The UFC 141 co-main event was a lightweight fight pitting Stockton native Nate Diaz against "Cowboy" Donald Cerrone.
The bad blood between these two fighters leading up to the fight continued into the ring, as referee Herb Dean asked for the fighters to shake hands before the opening bell and Cerrone responded by giving Diaz the middle finger.
Diaz and Cerrone went toe-to-toe from the start, but Diaz clearly took the first round, continually peppering Cerrone with unending punches, including straight right after straight right that left Cerrone looking dazed and fighting with his mouth open.
Cerron fared a bit better in the second round, knocking down Diaz with a head kick that appeared to not do much damage after Cerrone walked away without capitalizing and Diaz got right back up. Cerrone's best offense in the second round was with his kicks, but Diaz appeared to easily take the second round as well. Cerrone was bleeding from the nose and mouth by the time the round ended.
The fight remained standing into the third round, as again Diaz kept landing combinations that Cerrone appeared unable to answer. Cerrone looked winded but managed a sweep and a couple of good knees to the body. Still, Cerrone was able to capitalize and looked unwilling to take the fight to the ground, although he was clearly losing the standing game by quite some measure. Cerrone tried a flying knee with about 0:45 left but it missed. The two fighters both tried flurries in the final ten seconds, but Cerrone was visibly exhausted. The horn sounded to end the fight and the two men finally shook hands and congratulated one another.
Diaz inevitably took the unanimous decision by scores of (30-27, 30-27, 29-28). The crowd seemed surprised for some reason, raining down boos on Diaz after the decision was read. Diaz apologized to Cerrone for "all the [stuff] that went down" as he was interviewed after the fight, stating, "That's just TV."
For complete UFC 141 coverage and results, please stay tuned to this StoryStream.