Donald Cerrone Announces Return to Lightweight For Final Run

In recent weeks, there’s been talk about what the future holds for Donald Cerrone. Well, more recently, ‘Cowboy’s’ announced that he’s committing to fighting at lightweight for the final chapter of his career.

Cerrone vows to “give it my all” in final run

The rugged veteran has continued to struggle in 2020, as Cerrone has gone winless in all three of his bouts this year.

In January, Cerrone was quickly stopped by Conor McGregor, before he dropped a decision to Anthony Pettis in May. Then in September, Cerrone battled Niko Price to a draw. But, the latter would have won the bout if not for having a point deducted (due to repeated eye pokes).

All three of those bouts took place at welterweight.

Well, due to the fact Cerrone has gone winless in five straight fights, and because he’s now 37, there’s been speculation about what the future holds for the star. But, in a recent video on his YouTube channel, Cerrone announced that he’s planning a return to lightweight, for one last run (quotes via The MacLife).

“Everyone talking about I should slow down or I should stop. I want to retire when I want to retire. I don’t care what everyone else will say,” Cerrone said.

“Realistically I probably got a couple of years left, and that’s probably four or five fights left in me. Who knows. I’m gonna go back to ’55 and make a run.

Let’s go. It’s brutal, man, it’s hard. It’s tough. It’s a lot of dedication, it’s a lot of teamwork. If I’m gonna do it and make a run, I’m gonna give it my all. I don’t want to half-ass it. I want to bunker down. …

It would suck to remember the last bits of my fight career when I’m old and I’m like, ‘Man, I should have gave it a try.

I should have ridden the wave and [not] slacked the last part of my career and regretted it. Just tighten it up, rock it, do it. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work but at least I tried.

“It’s better than me saying, ‘We just kept it at [170], I just kept snowmobiling and playing and screwing off and letting it just dwindle off.

I’ll just buckle down, get serious and I only got a couple more years, so let’s do it.”

What comes next?

So, given that Cerrone was always small for the welterweight division, this plan makes sense. Provided of course, he can make the cut to 155 in a safe and healthy manner.

At 37, that’s not always easy.

The fact Cerrone is still confident in his abilities and is keen to make another run shouldn’t surprise anyone. But, the lightweight division is one of the most stacked in the UFC.

In other words, if Cerrone does take another big loss or two, you have to wonder if the UFC might call on him to retire.

It’s worth noting that Cerrone has been counted out by a lot of people before. Case in point, it wasn’t that long ago when he surprised many by defeating Mike Perry, Alex Hernandez and Al Iaquinta in three consecutive fights.