Donald Cerrone suffered a unanimous decision loss to Leon Edwards in the main event of UFC Fight Night 132 in Singapore and then revealed that he almost didn’t make it to the fight due to illness.
“This is the first time in my career that I’ve ever almost called Dana White and said, ‘I’m not coming to work today,’” Cerrone said backstage after the event. “And then I looked at myself in the mirror and said, ‘Man, you’re not that guy. Just go.’ But that had nothing to do with the way I fought. I’m proud of myself actually for getting in there and fighting, so I’m happy, I don’t have any remorse. I don’t think I lost any stock, so all good.”
According to ‘Cowboy’ he began feeling sick on the Saturday morning and that continued all the way through the day until just a few hours before the event.
“I was just sick, throwing up, just feeling… I couldn’t get out of bed, man. I was just feeling like sh*t all morning, all day. I just wasn’t feeling like showing up to work is what I was feeling. It’s the closest in my career I’ve ever been to calling the boss and say, ‘Hey, man, I’m not going to make it.’ And then I just rolled over at five o’clock and looked at the mirror and said, ‘You’re not that guy, so get up and lets go,’ and here I am.”
The 35-year-old star has become accustomed to winning far more fights than he’s losing over the course of his career, but Cerrone is now in unfamilar territory, having lost four of his last five fights in the Octagon.
However, there’s no sign of quit in the 45-fight veteran and he insists he still enjoys fighting, even if it doesn’t always go his way these days.
“I’m getting old in this sport and I love every minute of it, man. But maybe the new kids are coming, maybe they’re not, I don’t know, but there are sure tough guys out there. There’s not enough people like me that give those guys a chance, so I’m glad I can be the guy that’s in there and I’ll fight any of you guys. Come on, let’s have fun. Tonight, the smiles on my face are more than you can even imagine. The pasion I have out there I love it to the core, this is what I enjoy doing, man.
“If tonight was my last fight, I’d be upset, but I’m going to go until the UFC says, ‘‘Cowboy’ enough, enough, enough.’”
