For those that believed Donald Cerrone when he said he was slowing down and going back to lightweight, think again. He recently opened up about the terrifying road to fight day in an interview that produced chills, but in it spoke about how the old Cowboy is back. A revelation that led to him sticking to welterweight and fighting the very game Yancy Medeiros. The cut is just too big and Cowboy loves the fight game too much. So much in fact, that he wants to step inside the Octagon four times this year.
“[I plant to fight] four [times in 2018]. Who knows? If they call me and say they need me to fight next week, I will. I love it, I literally love my job. […] I think I did a good job branding myself young in this sport. But other than that, those young guys, you can’t just have one fight in the UFC and think, ‘Oh man, I’m going to sign a huge deal.’ It doesn’t work like that. Just like I can’t say, ‘I’m going to fight Floyd Mayweather and make $100 million.’ The opportunity isn’t there for me – you’ve got to take it when you can get it.”
This is amazing. #respect pic.twitter.com/ys81KBxwdJ
— Nick from MMA Infographics (@MMAInfographics) February 15, 2018
“I’m 174 pounds right now – we had Mexican food for dinner last night. Whether I’m at 155 or 170, that’s kind of my weight. 175 or 176, it’s hard to get above that and so I’m really small for 170, but it makes life a lot easier. I don’t need to worry about any kind of diet or any kind of suffering during fight week, whereas 155 is terrible for me. If there was a 165-pound weight class, that would be it. But 155 is tough to make. […] I’ve trained hard for this [fight with Yancy Medeiros], I love this sport. I love getting out there and doing what I do. This is the hardest sport in the world to be excellent at, so there’s wins and there’s losses and, unfortunately, I’ve taken three losses and that sucks. But that doesn’t affect me in any way. I’m good to go.” — Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone speaking to TSN.
Your #UFCAustin headliner is now official with @Cowboy_Cerrone checking in at 169.5 pounds.
One fighter left to hit the scales, and face-offs follow at the top of the hour. https://t.co/yjEqWpVyLY pic.twitter.com/MsPbvH5fvO
— John Morgan (@MMAjunkieJohn) February 17, 2018
Donald Cerrone truly is in a no man’s land as far as weight classes go. As he said in his interview, he ate a big dinner of delicious Mexican food and weighed in at 174-pounds. This morning at the early weigh-ins, Cerrone stepped on the scales and weight under the welterweight limit by a half of a pound. However, until they make a 165-pound weight class, welterweight is the home for the Cowboy. He’ll fight Medeiros in the main event of UFC Austin this Sunday, so go out an enjoy a rare Saturday off, maybe even crack up a couple of cold ones. It’s what Cerrone would want.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/17/2018.