Donald Cerrone could see the finish line more than two years ago.
Before he faced Conor McGregor at UFC 246, “Cowboy” could feel his passion for the sport waning, though he soldiered onward after falling to the Irish star via first-round technical knockout in January, 2020. The BMF Ranch founder finally called it a career in the Octagon following a submission loss to Jim Miller at UFC 276 this past Saturday night.
Before I fought McGregor, I knew,” Cerrone said during a post-fight scrum following UFC 276. “Then after the McGregor fight, I took another fight and I was just going through the motions. I didn’t enjoy it, didn’t love it. I knew the time was soon I just had to pick the right time. So I took a lot of time off and then called my agent and said let’s get a fight, and I just knew this was going to be the last one.”
Cerrone kept going in part at the behest of his wife, who urged him to soak it all in before walking away for good.
“My wife played soccer in college, and a lot of the things that kept me going in the last fights of my life was, she was like, ‘I wish I could go back and just play one more game. You have the chance to do one more fight. Go experience it and love it,’” he said. “And I was trying to love it, I was trying to find it, and I was trying to experience it. I just was doing it for all the wrong reasons. I was doing it for everybody else and on myself. But retiring [Saturday], that was for me, and I f—ing feel good about it.”
The announcement came as a surprise to everyone — even Cerrone’s inner circle. The Colorado native previously stated that his goal was to reach 50 total fights combined in UFC and WEC competition, but it turns out that was just a smokescreen.
“This sport is crazy. It’s the highest highs and the lowest lows, and I feel, probably the best I’ve felt in my career at my lowest right now if that makes any sense,” Cerrone said. “It was important for me to go out with Joe [Rogan] and Bruce [Buffer] in the cage. Just an iconic thing, here in Vegas. I knew back in January when we started training for the first round, this was going to be my last round, no matter what I told you guys. I remember telling the media team you guys are not to ask me about retiring, and I said, ‘I’ll do 50,’ but win or lose tonight, this was it, I was riding off.
“…I surprised the hell out of my team. They had no idea it was coming. My wife didn’t know. No one knew. It was a good secret I had.”
Cerrone fell on hard times in recent years, but he was known as one of the promotion’s most active and reliable fighters, challenging for lightweight gold in both the UFC and WEC while consistently taking short-notice bouts. He’s also among the all-time leaders in fights (38), wins (23), finsihes (16), knockdowns (20) and bonuses (18).
“Now it’s off to the next chapter,” he said. “And I’ll be back. I’ll come hang out, watch fights, talk to the young generation, tell them all the things they should’ve, could’ve, would’ve done. And maybe I’ll get an itch in two years, who knows? But anytime soon, hell to the no.”
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