Donald Cerrone has given an honest, self-critical assessment of his performance when he lost to Conor McGregor in January: His head wasn’t in the game.
Cerrone took on McGregor in the main event of UFC 246, and was stopped just 40 seconds into the fight. While many may have picked McGregor to get the win prior to the bout, few could have predicted such a swift finish against such a seasoned campaigner. Cerrone put it down to a mental block that he admitted has plagued him at points during his career.
“Donald showed up, ‘Cowboy’ wasn’t there,” Cerrone told ESPN. “Wrong guy showed up. Couldn’t get going, couldn’t get excited, couldn’t get fired up. Didn’t want to be there. Biggest fight, all the attention, my time to shine, I didn’t want to be there. It was crazy, man. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, I don’t know how to change that but it sucks, man. Sometimes I’m ready, I’m fired up, I’m ready to go, sometimes I get there I’m like, ‘Man, I don’t want to be there,’ so don’t know, no idea.”
After being asked about it in the lead-up to his fight with McGregor Cerrone was adamant that he was going to show up for the biggest fight of career. But, while he was exuding a calm confidence in front of the press, things were very different inside Cerrone’s mind as he battled with himself heading into fight night.
“Two days before the fight I was just like, ‘Ah man,’ It was just hard. But when I showed up there that morning it was like, ‘Man, (expletive),’ like I don’t. I just wasn’t feeling it.”
It all happened so fast for Cerrone, who had to deal with a charging McGregor right off the bat. As soon as the two collided in the center of the octagon, it all started going downhill for “Cowboy”.
“When he came at me and threw that big shot and I shot in, I hit his hip bone,” Cerrone said. “That’s what started the whole (thing). Then I grabbed a hold of him, to get my bearings back, and he like did the jumping shoulder slam which compounded the fog in my brain, and then I let go and he head kicked me so it was just like, there was no time to re-group. So it was from the first second of the fight, to when he ended it that I couldn’t even get my bearings back.”
The loss to McGregor marked Cerrone’s third straight defeat. However, it wasn’t too long ago that Cerrone produced masterclass dispays against the likes of Alexander Hernandez and Al Iaquinta.
He’ll be looking for a return to that sort of form when he faces former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in a rematch at UFC 249 on May 9. Pettis finished Cerrone in their first meeting back in 2013, and “Cowboy” will be looking to turn the tables in their rematch in Jacksonville.
Donald Cerrone reflects on Conor McGregor loss: 'Donald showed up, Cowboy wasn't there'