If there's one man whose paid his dues in the UFC promotion, it's Donald Cerrone.'Cowboy' is on 29 completed fights in his eight-year UFC career, and will take part in his 30th this weekend at UFC Fight Night 143.It is there where he will return to the Lightweight division inside the Barclays Center, where he goes one-on-one with rising star Alexander Hernandez, who is ranked number 11 and has only had two UFC fights.The war of words has already started between the pair at the last media event before the fight takes place, with Hernandez claiming 'Cowboy' has always been 'number two' and that he will one day become a champion.

Cerrone is seemingly already looking past the fight though to another opponent - none-other than Conor McGregor.

Speculation surrounded that potential clash in late 2018 whilst McGregor was in the middle of trying to sort out the aftermath of his UFC 229 clash with Khabib Nurmagomedov, but talk has resurfaced.

And Cerrone is confident that something can be struck with the 'Notorious', and he will have a better chance of that happening should he win this weekend.

“We’re working for it, for sure,” Cerrone said at the pre-fight open workouts, per MMAJunkie.

“Hopefully the next fight. Conor’s his own beast. He gets to dictate the spot what he wants, so it’s whether me and the UFC agree, it’s all kind of on him.

"He did a good job of cementing himself, so it’s all on him.”

McGregor is the big-money fight for anyone in the UFC, but Cerrone is probably deserving of it more than anyone due to his longevity in the game and loyalty to the promotion.

He's also got an army of fans and facing McGregor can only bring him more exposure, but being three inches taller than the Notorious one means he could cause the former two-weight champion problems.

All talk of the fight is premature though until we see if Cerrone can get the job done against 26-year-old Hernandez - and it won't be easy considering Cowboy is the bookmakers underdog.