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Longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight veteran Donald Cerrone, who also enjoyed a memorable run at 170 pounds, has fought a staggering 22 times since 2014, including four appearances in 2019 alone.
That’s one of many reasons why “Cowboy” is a favorite among mixed martial arts (MMA) fans. Another is the fact that the self-admitted adrenaline junkie has 23 fight night bonuses across UFC and the now-defunct World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC).
But with that kind of activity, perhaps it’s time for Cerrone to take a long vacation.
“They gotta stop him from fighting this frequently,” top trainer Ray Longo told the Anik & Florian Podcast (via BJPenn.com). “Bro I used to love listening to him, it’s starting to sound crazy to me now. ‘The best thing about it is I get to wake up tomorrow and do it again.’ Do what again? You just got pummeled. Like I get it. He loves fighting, He’s an adrenaline junkie. I look at when they’re doing a special on him. He’s jumping off a building, he’s a firefighter. I feel like what a boring piece of shit I am.”
Cerrone, 36, was finished by Justin Gaethje in the UFC Vancouver main event last weekend on ESPN+, in what marks the sixth time “Cowboy” has been stopped by strikes, with four of them coming within the last two years.
“I look at [Cerrone] and I’m like, ‘I gotta do something. I gotta go skydiving or something.’ I kinda worry for him at this point,” Longo continued. “I like the fighting, there’s no problem with that but man wait four or five months. Not just every five weeks or three weeks. At this point now the losses are backing up and he’s had some damage in the last six months. It’s crazy.”
Cerrone (36-13, 1 NC) is planning to return to the Octagon in December.