A man that has walked-the-walk, talked-the-talk and been a staple to the UFC for years simply goes by the name cowboy. Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (36-12) will be making the walk to the octagon, for a record breaking 33rd time (tying Jim Miller for most in company history), in this weekend’s main event in Vancouver.
A post shared by Donald Cerrone (@cowboycerrone) on Jul 19, 2019 at 10:10am PDT
His journey started way before MMA went mainstream but one thing that’s remained the same, for Cerrone, since the beginning of his career is that he’s lived up to his mantra of “anytime, anywhere and any place”.
With that mantra though, comes a man on a mission and the road that he’s chosen to take has been the road less traveled. In a time where everyone is basically looking for a “money fight”, Cerrone is really the last of a dying breed.
A post shared by Donald Cerrone (@cowboycerrone) on Jun 11, 2019 at 8:51am PDT
Coming from the WEC (all fighters did as part of the merger between the WEC and the UFC) to the UFC in 2010, Cerrone- just like the promotion- paved his own trail and saddled up fight after fight. Staying relevant from the days when the UFC was being shown on SPIKE TV, Fuel, etc. To now being shown on the leading network for everything sports, ESPN.
He holds the record for most combined victories (43) between WEC and UFC, as well as most knockdowns (20) landed in the UFC. On top of that, he has 18 fight bonuses which is the most in the company and another 5 more can be added from his WEC days, which combined is still the most amongst any fighter.
While majority of his career has been at lightweight, Cerrone did attempt a-go at welterweight in 2016 and while it got off to a hot-start, he then suffered 3 losses in a row and ended with a 6-4 record at welterweight in a time span of almost 3 years.
During that time he parted ways with the famous Jackson-Wink camp, citing a fall out between himself and the team. With that fall-out came the rise of his own gym, which he began putting together in 2014: THE BMF RANCH.
A post shared by BMF Ranch (@bmfranch) on Aug 21, 2019 at 9:12am PDT
Now with his return at lightweight, “Cowboy” has gone on to win 2 of his 3 fights since returning. His lone loss coming to Tony Ferguson where he blew (literally) his eye shut forcing the fight to be stopped.
When Cerrone makes the walk this Saturday, he’ll become the first fighter this year to have made the walk 4 times. Time and time again when Cerrone has gotten kicked off the saddle, he finds reason to get back on. His reason this go around may be his biggest reason yet, his son (Danger) has provided a newfound purpose to Cerrone this year.
A post shared by Donald Cerrone (@cowboycerrone) on Jun 16, 2019 at 7:38am PDT
“Cowboy” was probably relevant long before your favorite fighter was and he’ll probably be relevant long after. No one knows when he’ll hang up his boots but as long as we have Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, we know we’ll have Kid Rocks’ ‘Cowboy’ blasting through the speakers. A perfect walkout song for a real “BMF”.
Real always recognizes real and regardless of what happens in the future anyone claiming the name or title (yes I’m looking at you UFC 244) are all just paying homage.■
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