Are we all taking the quality and consistency of Donald Cerrone for granted?

Pause a moment and let the man’s statistical magic wash over you.

Most total fights under the combined UFC/WEC banner. Most wins in UFC history. Most “Of The Night” bonus awards and most wins by stoppage in UFC history, too. Oh and by the way, who’s scored the most wins via head kick knockout? Yeah, that’s him too. Because why wouldn’t it be?

It’s easy to forget how prolific Donald Cerrone has been in part because he’s so ubiquitous. This guy, he fights so much that he never gives you a chance to miss him.

You know the last time Cerrone fought fewer than three times in one calendar year? It was 2012, when he only stepped in the octagon twice. Then again, he may have needed the time off, seeing as how he fought five times the year before that, and four times in each of the next four years.

At this level of the sport, that kind of work rate is essentially unheard of. It’s flat-out absurd, is what it is. For the entirety of his stay in the UFC, Cerrone has been a major player in two of the most talent-rich divisions in all of MMA.

It’s impressive enough just to stay relevant that long. To do so while competing roughly once a quarter is insane. There may never be another fighter like “Cowboy” Cerrone, and that’s true in more ways than one. Here’s a man whose personal branding is so strong it could even survive the transition to the Reebok era. You couldn’t blend him into the crowd if you tried.

But if there’s a downside to being Mr. Reliable for the UFC, maybe it’s the job of work that’s staring Cerrone in the face come Saturday night in Ottawa. That’s where, in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 9, Cerrone faces bona fide banger Al Iaquinta in a very difficult fight that guarantees nothing to the winner aside from some money and another notch on the highlight reel.

Is this a title eliminator fight? Eh, maybe. Will the winner be able to get on the mic afterwards and call for a big money showdown with Conor McGregor next? He could give it a try.

But if anyone starts telling you that they know exactly what’s going to happen next in the UFC’s lightweight division, put your hand on your wallet and head for the door. It’s a fluid situation over there, you might say. Guarantees are hard to come by.

That’s why the UFC must be grateful for guys like Cerrone. When you’ve got roughly 300 Fight Night events per year (only a slight exaggeration), you need guys like him. He’s someone you can stick in a main event opposite just about anybody and fans will nod along and accept it because, sure, when wouldn’t you watch this man fight?

He’s always close enough to the top that he could fight a contender or even a champion at any given time and the whole thing is justifiable. But he fights so often and with so little regard for his own safety that he’s bound to lose a few here and there, so you won’t be compelled to put him in title fights if you don’t want to.

In other words, Cerrone is the UFC’s dream fighter. Everything about the way the scheduling and the matchmaking works, it relies on the existence of guys like him. It longs for them. If the UFC went to a mad scientist with a list of its wants and needs, the super fighter to come out of that dungeon lab on some dark and stormy night would look exactly like Cerrone.

And yet, there are times when it feels like all of us – the UFC, fans, the media – are taking him for granted. He’s been doing his thing so consistently for so many years that it’s like he’s lulled us into a false sense of security. As if, whatever else happens, we’ll always have Cerrone showing up once every few months to kick someone in the face in a Fight Night main event.

We won’t, though. Somewhere in the rational parts of our brains we must know that. What we don’t know yet is just how much we’ll miss him when he’s gone. And neither does the UFC.

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