Top ranked UFC lightweight and welterweight Donald Cerrone is never one to shy away from speaking his mind, even if he speaks an unpopular opinion.
During a recent UFC media luncheon, Cerrone spoke about the possibility of a fighter’s union, saying:
“I’ll gladly put my head on the chopping block and say I’ll be the front face of this mother f*cker,” said Cerrone, who fights Kelvin Gastelum on the huge card Nov. 12 in New York. … “I’ve paid my way, man. I’ve earned the right to sit here and speak. I think there’s a lot of people that are scared and not willing to step up and do it. It’s gonna take a couple of us and it needs to be done.”
advertisement – continue reading below“I’ll be the guy,” Cerrone said. “I’m not scared. All I’m saying is we need a fighters union 1,000, million percent, especially with the new owners coming in and I think now is the time.”
Now, with just days to go until his UFC 205 scrap with Kelvin Gastelum, Cerrone has one again reiterated that he believes the time is now for a fighter’s union to be formed.
He spoke to MMAFighting:
“Just like Roosevelt said, if I’m gonna work in a factory, I’m gonna be part of a union, so something needs to be done. I’m coming up in a couple years on my 10 year mark, if I was in any other sport, 10 years, I’d have a pension, I’d have retirement, I’d have something.”
“I don’t know anything about unions, so I’ve never been in a union, never been part of a union, if somebody ever came to me with some kind of questions I would have no idea. So, since I openly said that, I’ve had a couple people who are trying to create unions call me & contact me, and I said ‘listen I got to sit down with you guys, I got to understand, first off what me and the other fighters are looking for, and what you guys are trying to address because I know nothing.
“It’s just something that needs to be done, and I feel like we need a face to do it so it’s fuckin time.”