Donald Cerrone pushes back on retirement talk, ‘age is no factor on me right now’
Donald Cerrone is heading into his 36th UFC fight week, but could this be his last? The 38-year-old has had a very successful career in the world’s best MMA organization but with the head of the company possibly calling for his retirement, how much longer can he go on? According to Cerrone, retirement is not even on his mind right now.
“We took a little slower approach this year, but I don’t know. I am getting old. I am. I need to slow my fighting down a little bit, for sure. Let my head heal, but sh-t, we’re ready,” Cerrone said at the UFC Vegas 26 media day (via MMAJunkie).
Dana White has been vocal about wanting to have a talk with Cerrone about stepping away from fighting. Cerrone has lost four of his last five, with his most recent bout ending in a No Contest. At one point in his career, Cerrone won 13 out of 14 and even challenged for the lightweight title. Cerrone has been known as the king of short notice fights throughout his career. Usually, it is him stepping in, but this time he is welcoming Alex Morono on short notice after Diego Sanchez was removed from the promotion.
“It’s the same conversation I had with Sean (Shelby) and Dana,” Cerrone said. “Like, ‘The Diego fight’s out, you want me to take a short-notice fight? I’m not on a four-fight winning streak. It’s actually the opposite. I don’t want to be in here fighting for my job. I don’t want to come to you like ‘Man, I shouldn’t have done that.” All that aside, that’s not even in my thought. Like, ‘Oh, I have to win. This is a must-win.’ I get to go in, I get to go fight. I get to do what I love. So, I feel great. The age is no factor on me right now. I’m not beat up or sore.”
This is not exactly a win or go-home fight for Cerrone at this point, but the UFC has been letting fighters go who are in a similar position as Donald Cerrone. Yoel Romero and Tyron Woodley are two that could be characterized as being in the same position, but “Cowboy” has one thing going for him, and he is a solid fan base. He recently fought Conor McGregor which raised his stock and since he holds the record of most UFC wins and finishes, perhaps the UFC will continue that to keep going for a while.
