‘Let’s Talk About Stopping’

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

After a 0-4-1 run, UFC president Dana White thinks it’s time for the 37 year ‘Cowboy’ to consider hanging up the gloves.

It’s been a bad 2020 for Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, and he’ll be the first person to agree with us on that point.

The 40 second destruction at the hands of Conor McGregor. A close but ultimately losing effort against Anthony Pettis. And now a draw against Niko Price at UFC Vegas 11 that would have been a defeat had Price been able to keep his fingers out of Cowboy’s eyeballs. The first two opponents were legends and former champions. Price, though? He was the rebound. And he almost rebounded Cerrone’s head against the canvas during the early flurries of round one.

A lot of people were asking Cerrone about retirement being close, and he refused to consider it. But now it sounds like he’ll have to, because UFC president Dana White is ready to have ‘the conversation’ with him.

“The win for him tonight: he was on his way out on the first 30 seconds of the first round … he fought back, he’s tough, he’s durable,” White said. “And I love Cowboy and this is going to crush him and break his heart, but it’s time to have a conversation with him.”

If that wasn’t explicit enough, White clarified which conversation: “Let’s talk about stopping.”

As for Cerrone, he clearly knew this was a fight he needed to win to keep a position amongst the best at 155 pounds.

“It’s five losses in a row for me,” he said in an ESPN interview alongside his opponent Price. “Call it a draw … he won the fight. Had they not taken a point, you wouldn’t even be talking to me. I’d be on the way to the RV to just pout. Dude went out there and did his thing … I told everyone all week about Cowboy showing up, I felt good, training camp was awesome. And the first round I just went out there and took a beating.”

“I’m going to step back for a while,” he continued. “Everyone said ‘Are you retiring?’ There’s no even talks of it. This is what I love, there’s no place I’d rather be in the world than in there. But I’m gonna go snowmobiling. Take the rest of the year. This 2020, it’s just not my year. First Conor, then Pettis, now you. It’s like man, I’m taking a beating. So maybe I’ll just 2021 come back, hey I’m back! You know? And I think Niko and I are gonna do it again. That’s what I’d like.”

Whether White will agree to Cerrone’s plan remains to be seen.

“I know what he’s going to say,” White said. “‘I don’t want to stop.’ But, you know … we gotta have the conversation.”