Donald Cerrone may think questions about his potential retirement are crazy, but his boss doesn’t necessarily agree with him.
Cerrone (36-15 MMA, 23-12 UFC) returns to the cage Saturday against Niko Price (14-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) in the UFC on ESPN+ 36 co-main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. At Wednesday’s media day for the event, he eschewed talk of inching toward retirement.
The 37-year-old former lightweight title challenger has lost four straight for the first time in his career. After knockout losses to Tony Ferguson, Justin Gaethje and Conor McGregor, he lost a decision in a rematch against Anthony Pettis in May. The latter two fights have been in a return to welterweight.
“Hell no,” Cerrone said when asked about retirement. “No. Not even in my train of thought. Wrong question. … I’m planning on being here for a long time. I’m going to leave when I’m done. I don’t ever want the walking papers. When ‘Cowboy’s’ done fighting, I’m going to bend my hat and I’m going to say, ‘All right boys, I’ve had enough. I’m out.’ I don’t ever want to have them call my manger and release me, that would totally suck. I’m going to keep fighting my ass off.”
But Thursday on “SportsCenter” on UFC broadcast partner ESPN, UFC president Dana White said the time may be coming for Cerrone to consider calling it quits.
“I would say everything is on the line for ‘Cowboy,’” White said on the show. “In professional sports, the day starts to come where all of our heroes start to get old, and ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone is getting there. He needs a win. He needs a win badly.”
Cerrone is an underdog to Price, but only at around +125. Cerrone has not been the betting favorite in a fight since he beat Yancy Medeiros in early 2018. This will make the ninth straight bout he’ll have been an underdog in, and he’s gone 3-5 in those previous eight.
Cerrone has the most fights in UFC history with 35, the most wins in UFC history with 23, the most finishes in UFC history with 16 and the most bonuses in UFC history with 18. He also won five post-fight bonus awards in the WEC before that promotion merged with the UFC.
Dana White: ‘Everything is on the line’ for Donald Cerrone at UFC on ESPN+ 36
