Things didn’t pan out for Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone on Saturday night. However, his defeat to Alex Morono at UFC on ESPN 24 will not be the last time we see him in the Octagon.
Cerrone has ambitions of making one last run in the UFC lightweight division, but agreed to fight Diego Sanchez at welterweight.
Sanchez was then released from the promotion, prompting the UFC to book Morono as a last-minute opponent for Cerrone. As always, the veteran duly accepted. Unfortunately for the Colorado native, he succumbed to a first-round TKO loss – his fifth defeat from six, four of which coming by TKO.
That loss saw some online chatter questioning Cowboy’s fighting future. Though, Cerrone maintains he wants to continue competing in the UFC and end things on a win, rather than a loss.
“Absolutely not. No way. I’ll never go out like this,” the 38-year-old said in his post-fight interview with ESPN. “I will, 100 percent I’ll know and I’ll come in and hopefully I go in whipping ass right off. There’s no way I’d end like this. I couldn’t let my legacy end like this.
“But I’ll call the boss man and say ‘hey man, I know it’s been a rough couple years but when it’s time, let me bow out right.’”
And it seems Cowboy will get his wish. UFC President Dana White says he will repay Cerrone with another UFC fight after years of loyalty, activity and going above and beyond for the promotion.
“Cowboy again steps up, Diego falls out of the fight, he steps up and takes a last-minute replacement, co-main event. What he wants to do – he accepted the Diego fight because they both said they would fight at 170,” White told TSN. “He wants to move down to [155] and get another fight, and I’m going to let him do that.”
