Fighters often say that they put their lives on the line whenever they step on the battlefield for war. While true, very few actually mean it when the bell rings. Some prefer to hit and not be hit. But there are others who are wired differently.
Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone is one of the others, someone truly willing to put it all on the line each and every time out.
When the curtain finally closes on the mixed martial arts career of "Cowboy," it’s unlikely that he’ll make the shortlist as one of the greatest fighters to compete in the Octagon. However, what Cerrone has accomplished extends beyond wins and losses. In fact, there may be more value in being the fan-friendly action fighter of the Ultimate Fighting Championship who can take solace in knowing that he will most likely be remembered as the Arturo Gatti of MMA.
Arturo "Thunder" Gatti may never be considered the most skilled boxer of all time or one of the sweet science’s greatest world champions, but his legacy as a man who enjoyed the thrill of fighting and gave it everything he had between the ropes has endeared him to an audience for years to come. His legendary nights are still spoken of beyond his unfortunate passing at the age of 37 in 2009.
If you were looking to introduce someone to boxing, it is unlikely that you would show that person a Floyd Mayweather fight. Instead, you could grab one of the many scintillating battles Gatti had over the course of his career that would surely entice the watcher. Chances are, upon a singular viewing, that casual fan would become a hardcore due to the literal and figurative blood and guts that Gatti displayed in the squared circle.
The same can be said for Cerrone.
Some casual fans are turned off when they see a wrestling or grappling match inside of the cage. And although Cerrone embodies the "mixed" part of mixed martial arts, the seasoned veteran prefers to stand and bang with his opposition, much to the pleasure of the fans. And, for better or worse, that approach has defined his career.
Simply put, they don’t make them like Arturo Gatti. In that same breath, they damn sure don’t make them like Donald Cerrone.
Gatti retired from boxing with a record of 40-9 with 31 knockouts and won world titles in two different weight classes. But none of those accolades will overshadow the blood, sweat and tears that Gatti shared between those ring ropes. There was nothing sweet about the sweet science for Italian-Canadian fighter. And the thrilling wars he had with the likes of Mikey Ward, Gabriel Ruelas and Ivan Robinson delivered awe-inspiring highlights and drama straight out of a "Rocky" movie. Gatti's style of give and take boxing oftentimes created scenarios that shouldn’t have been as difficult as they were.
But you couldn’t tell Gatti that. This isn’t to say that Gatti wasn’t skilled because he certainly was to a degree. However, he was disinterested in using his physical attributes to make any fight easy.
Far too many times Gatti ended up in unnecessary wars that left him battered and bludgeoned. His epic encounter with Wilson Rodriguez on March 23, 1996 was one perfect example of this. Gatti was expected to roll past Rodriguez in what was deemed as a gimme fight. He could have — if he wanted to.
What could have been a boring one-sided affair turned into a barn burner with a dramatic finish. That kind of war defined Gatti and became his calling card for the rest of his professional career.
Cerrone currently holds a solid MMA career record of 36-13 (1 No Contest). Although he’s never won a world title in the UFC, he holds the record for most post-fight bonus awards in the history of the promotion with 18, and he’s done that in 33 clashes inside of the Octagon. That’s better than a 50 percent clip, which is downright phenomenal. Of those 18 bonuses, six were for Fight of the Night and five were from either Knockout or Submission of the Night. The other seven bonuses were for Performance of the Night. (This doesn’t include the five Fight of the Night awards he garnered in World Extreme Cagefighting.)
Like Gatti, Cerrone is the blood and guts of mixed martial arts. As a man who has never seen a fight he didn’t like, if it weren’t for the body that he has to take care of, Cerrone would probably fight every time the sun came up. And like his boxing spirit animal, Cerrone often opts for the most exciting path to victory rather than the one that would be deemed as the safest.
Cerrone’s 2011 showdown with kickboxing dynamo Dennis Siver was one in which "Cowboy" could have easily used his wrestling and jiujitsu to dominate the fight. Instead, Cerrone waltzed right into Siver’s wheelhouse and caught his opponent with a beautiful high kick before finishing him off with a rear-naked choke.
Like Gatti, Cerrone has been in there with them all. People tend to forget that Gatti’s resume is littered with the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, Ivan Robinson, Mickey Ward and plenty of others while Cerrone has squared off with everyone from Anthony Pettis and Nate Diaz to Tony Ferguson and Eddie Alvarez. You win some, and you lose some. But you are never left without being entertained.
What fighters like Cerrone and Gatti possess can't be measured by world titles or records. They are the combat in combat sports personified and will always bring the fight to their opponent.
It’s the reason why fight fans have been clamoring for a Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone fight and will finally get it at UFC 246. Cerrone may not be the best available opponent, but he’s the one who will absolutely give McGregor everything he has for as long as the fight goes.
"I probably should [take him down], but I don’t think I will. I like to fight, too. I like to get in there and throw down," Cerrone said in a recent interview with ESPN. "Everyone says his standup is amazing, so why not go and test it? Everyone says, ‘You want to just stand there and get knocked out. That’s such a stupid game; that’s a stupid decision.’ But its my decision. It’s my stupidity. Who the f— are you to tell me what I can do?"
Fighters like Cerrone and Gatti are boomerangs in fight gear because they will keep coming back regardless of the previous results. The may not be the best, but they will always come to fight. And, really, that's all you can ask for.
"Gatti was never a pound-for-pound guy," promoter Lou DiBella said in an interview with The Sweet Science earlier this year. "If you were a warrior and had a good night, you could rumble with Gatti. But he was an incredible fighter, and you can’t rewrite him into Floyd Mayweather. He was just a blood-and-guts warrior. Gatti wasn’t really happy if he didn’t get into a war."
Cerrone isn't Jon Jones or Georges St. Pierre, but he's a one-of-a-kind fighter who has endeared himself to fans across the globe due to his willingness to put it all on the line whenever that cage door shuts. He'll finally get the biggest fight of his career at UFC 246 against McGregor. Win or lose, he's earned the right to headline what could be the biggest UFC fight of 2020.
"You’ve earned that multi-million dollar payday," McGregor said at the UFC 246 press conference. Rather than malign his opponent with derogatory terms, McGregor acknowledged and appreciated the man affectionately known as Cowboy. "I’m delighted for you. Seriously."
And the rest of the world is just as delighted.