On Sunday night, Hawaii’s Yancy Medeiros came up short in one of the biggest fights of his career thus far, succumbing to a salvo of first-round punches from Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Even in defeat, however, the ever-classy Medeiros made headlines, as he quickly jumped out of the cage to embrace with Cowboy’s grandmother in a truly sportsmanlike display.
Unsurprisingly, this gesture went over very well with Cowboy himself, who praised Medeiros post-fight.
You want to talk about a stand up Guy!! What a true honor @ymedeiros Jumping the cage to pay respects to my Grandma 👵🏻. So cool.” – @Cowboycerrone in Instagram. After losing my gma last year, this wrecked me last night. What a special moment. #UFCAustin https://t.co/zqAAVTX3tk pic.twitter.com/kZLKocVokX
— Justin Golightly (@SecretMovesMMA) February 19, 2018
“You want to talk about a stand up Guy?” Cerrone said on social media. “What a true honor [Yancy Medeiros], jumping the cage to pay respects to my Grandma. So cool.”
On Monday, Medeiros also commented on this classy move – and on his loss itself.
“It’s a business of entertainment,” Medeiros said in this post fight statement. “But my profession will never dictate my personality. Maybe my strength/weakness, I am, who i am. give a lot of love and respect. I won’t change that. Cerrone pointed at his grandmother. She was calling me over…. Imma family man, I admire family. Even in War, still had to give my aloha. Get better, never bitter…on to the next one.”
What did you think of Yancy Medeiros’s post-fight embrace with Cowboy’s grandmother?
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/20/2018.