Former UFC Welterweight Champion and UFC Hall Of Fame member Pat Miletich was the longtime coach of another former UFC Welterweight Champion in Robbie Lawler.
Lawler is taking on Donald Cerrone this Saturday Night at UFC 214 and Miletich believes his former protege is in a no win situation.
“Donald Cerrone is a dangerous guy. He’s proven to be dangerous over and over again. What does Robbie gain by beating him? If I’m Robbie’s manager, I would have never let that fight happen. I’m not saying Robbie’s going to get beat by him, but its just, Cerrone is a dangerous, dangerous dude. He hits hard. He kicks hard. He’s versatile. He’s great on the ground. The guy is no joke. He’s world class and he has been for years. He’s world class. If they had said, these are your choices, [I’d say] take Cerrone off that list right now. That’s a no-win situation,” Miletich said on The MMA Hour.
The former UFC Welterweight Champion in Lawler is competing for the first time since losing the gold to Tyron Woodley at UFC 201.
Miletich remembers telling another former UFC Welterweight Champion in Matt Hughes that if Lawler wins, then he needs to get out of the first round.
“You get done doing that and he finally gets to the Woodley fight and I said to Matt Hughes at the time and I said ‘Matt, make sure he gets out of that first round with Woodley, man.’ Because Tyron is so explosive early on in a fight that he can put anybody away. That's a scary, scary man when he hits you solid or starts hitting doubles on you and stuff. Robbie didn’t make it out of the first round, he got clipped and put away. That was after that run he went through, the roller coaster for each camp and each fight, it's very difficult on the mind and the body to do that, and it’s amazing that he pulled it off,” says Miletich.
UFC 214 takes place on Saturday, July 29 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California with Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
