UFC Fight Night 27's Donald Cerrone wants fourth or fifth fight in 2013

INDIANAPOLIS – After a slow 2012, the old “Cowboy” is back, he says.

Donald Cerrone (20-5 MMA, 7-2 UFC) today will fight for the third time in 2013 when he meets Rafael dos Anjos (19-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) in the lightweight co-main event of UFC Fight Night 27. And he insists he’s not stopping there. He wants another one before the year’s out.

“As soon as I get through this one, I’m calling out who I want to fight in December,” Cerrone told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I hear they’ve got a Vegas card. And maybe I’ll sneak one more in. I’ll bring the boat down to Vegas one more time before I’ve got to put it away.”

UFC Fight Night 27 takes place at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The main card, including Cerrone-dos Anjos, airs on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on FOX Sports 2 and Facebook.

Cerrone’s 2013 didn’t start off so hot. He was drilled in the body by Anthony Pettis at UFC on FOX 6 in January and was stopped with a first-round TKO. But he rebounded in May by shutting down KJ Noons over three rounds to get back on track.

In 2011, Cerrone’s first year in the UFC after the WEC merger, he famously fought nearly an unheard of five times, going 4-0 before a loss to Nate Diaz. Critics wondered if his pace – which included a fight in December 2011, giving him essentially six fights in a little more than 12 months – was his downfall against Diaz.

And in 2012 he fought just twice, getting wins over Jeremy Stephens and Melvin Guillard, the latter of which got him a double bonus.

But that year was decidedly unCowboylike, and he very much wants a return to the frequency he had in 2011 – if for no other reason than it threw a wrench into his plans outside the UFC.

“How hard was it to get a loan for this house I’m trying to get? That was the hard part (about only fighting twice in 2012),” Cerrone said. “They’re like, ‘Well, you had a decrease in income.’ I said, ‘Yeah. I need to get back after that.’ They go off your year’s income – 2011 rocked, and 2010. But we’re back in the winning track. We’re good.”

Cerrone also knows a win over dos Anjos, who has won four straight, will get him closer to a potential title shot in the crowded lightweight division. Cerrone has two losses to lightweight champ Benson Henderson when the two were in the WEC. “Smooth” defends his title against Pettis on Saturday at UFC 164. An eventual shot at either would mean a chance to avenge a loss, but it’s Henderson who Cerrone believes has the edge and most wants to fight again.

Cerrone ranked No. 11 and dos Anjos No. 14 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA lightweight rankings.

“I’d like a rematch with Ben for sure, and I feel like that’s the direction I’m going,” he said. “A win over Rafael – I’m not sure if T.J. Grant is getting an immediate shot, or who the next guy is, but that’s who I’m going after. Whoever the next guy is. I’m going to chase that title down.”

But first, dos Anjos is in his way – a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. Cerrone isn’t worried about that, but he believes dos Anjos better be worried about him.

“The guy’s on a four-fight win streak,” Cerrone said. “I don’t know too much about him – I know he’s a great striker and great jiu-jitsu, and that’s really all I know. But he needs to worry about what I’m going to be doing. I’m coming hard. Whether it goes to the ground, or stands up, I plan to kick ass and take names.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 27, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.