Donald Cerrone raised eyebrows yesterday when he stated his intention to return to the UFC for two more fights, but Dana White has since poured cold water on his plan.
“I hate it. I hate it,” White said after the latest episode of the Contender Series. “Love him, hate that.
“He retired. For what? What’s left to prove? If you want to make money, let’s figure something else out. I hate it. When guys retire, they retire for a reason. They don’t just retire because — they retire because they know it’s over. They know it is.
“Not just this sport but any professional sport, is hard to walk away from. Not just the money — that’s obviously a very hard part of it — but the feeling of walking out of that tunnel, the feeling of getting in the cage and the place is packed. Look at every time we’re at a show and we show Cowboy Cerrone on the screen, the place goes nuts. He’s beloved. He’s beloved because the guy goes to war, and he’s been in wars for years, and it’s time to not go to war anymore. There’s nothing left to prove for him.
White’s stance is understandable given that the 41-year-old ‘Cowboy’ failed to win in his final seven fights in the UFC, including four TKO defeats, so the UFC CEO feels that the fan favorite needs to come up with a different plan to earn a living – and it sounds like he’s willing to help him with that.
“I’d rather work something else out with him, figure out another way,” White continued. “If it’s about money, then he can do something else. Because he ain’t going to fight for the rest of his life and he’s always going to need to make money. So let’s figure that out now instead of three years from now.
“Cerrone shouldn’t think about fighting again,” White concluded. “Cerrone needs to think about what’s next. He should have been thinking about it two years ago but apparently he didn’t, and he needs to.
“But we’re here for him. We love Cerrone. We’ll help in any way we can. I don’t want to see him get punched in the face anymore.”
Cerrone did have a plan to become a movie star after retiring, but while he has appeared in numerous films since then, they have generally been low-budget indie offerings rather than Hollywood blockbusters.
