After weeks of chaos, the UFC is back! And it brings its own sets of ups and downs. As for Donald Cerrone, all his efforts were in vain, as he could not avenge his loss to Pettis back in 2013. Falling short to ‘Showtime’ via unanimous decision.

It’s rather unfortunate that both Pettis and Cerrone walked into the octagon at UFC 249 desperately in need of a win. Because both fighters put on a great show in which labeling either fighter as the loser seems unfair. However, that is how this sport goes and tonight it was Donald Cerrone.

The scorecards put Pettis ahead of Cerrone in the hard-fought preliminary card headliner earning him a score of 29-28 across the board.

Starting slow, the fighters picked up the pace as time went on. Cerrone came on strong, looking to pressure Pettis early on in the fight. The highlight for Cowboy’s first round was when he thwarted Pettis’ jumping kick and took him to the mats with a double-leg takedown. However, he was unable to control from the top and eventually let Pettis up.

Pettis landed harder shots resulting in a rather visible swelling in his left eye. Following which it was clear that both Pettis’ confidence and striking were on a rise.

On the other hand, Cerrone held the upper hand throughout the fight as far as wrestling is concerned. And Cerrone’s wrestling brought things much closer towards the end of the second round.

Accidental eye-poke against Donald Cerrone?

Cerrone started throwing more combinations from the start of the third round. However, Pettis’ shots seemed to have an edge over those of Cerrone. And things picked up following Cerrone’s accidental eye poke.

Cerrone stepped in getting punched in the eye letting out a rather audible shout, thinking he was poked in the eye. However, the poke went uncalled.

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Cerrone responded strongly with a hard kick to the head that Pettis absorbed, somehow, and kept himself together. Pettis managed to make it to the end and go home with a win.

The two fighters had a quick discussion about the eye poke towards the end of the fight, where Cerrone accused Pettis of the same.

“Replay that s**t, hell nah,” said Pettis in an attempt to argue his innocence. However, the replay contradicted Pettis’ claims of innocence and show that it, indeed was an eye poke.

Their fight wrapped things up on the UFC 249 preliminary card at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

Do you think the poke should have been called?