‘Cowboy’ Cerrone Returning to Lightweight, Plans Less Frequent Fighting Going Forward
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone is done fighting at welterweight for now.
Following a run at 170 pounds that included wins over the likes of Matt Brown, Rick Story and Alex Oliveira but following a string of recent losses, Cerrone has decided to return to the lightweight division where he’s made his biggest impact in the sport.
The decision to test the waters at welterweight happened after Cerrone came up short in his only UFC title fight when he suffered a loss to Rafael dos Anjos by knockout in 2015. While Cerrone found a lot of success early on, a trio of losses capped off by a knockout courtesy of Darren Till in October have convinced him to go back home again to the lightweight division.
“Well I’m going back to 155 [pounds],” Cerrone told “The Fighter and the Kid” podcast this week. “I’m only 175, I’ve been waking up everyday at 175 [pounds] so I’m fine. I’m more focused.
“At [170 pounds], I can just not train, f–k off and I put more into it at 55 so let’s go back have a couple more fights.”
While Cerrone’s entire UFC career has been defined by his willingness to fight anyone, anywhere at any time, it sounds like he’s going to take a slightly more reserved approach going forward.
Just recently, Cerrone started dabbling with acting rolls including appearances in multiple episodes of the new Netflix limited series ‘Godless’ and he’s also scored a role in the upcoming ‘Equalizer 2’ alongside Denzel Washington.
Fighting is still his first love but Cerrone is still take a slight step back when it comes to the sheer volume with how often he’s stepping into the Octagon.
“I probably won’t take 20 a year anymore. I’ll probably take it down a little bit,” Cerrone said.
Of course, Cerrone has never been in the business of calling anybody out and that won’t change now that he’s going back to lightweight.
In fact, Cerrone can honestly say he doesn’t really even know too many fighters in the division just like he stated when matched up with Till in his last bout. As much as Till took it as a slight going into the fight, Cerrone admits he just doesn’t follow the sport that closely but he certainly knows his name now.
“It wasn’t any disrespect to him,” Cerrone said about Till. “I just honestly had no idea. I have a very clear understanding of who Darren f–king Till is now. Now I know.”
