Donald Cerrone has made good money since joining the UFC in 2011 but never broken through to the upper tier of the company's pay structure. The latter is no longer the case.
Cerrone announced Thursday that he had signed a six-fight contract with the organization before the biggest fight of his life, Saturday's UFC 246 headliner vs. Conor McGregor. While he didn't reveal whether it was a "red-panty night" in terms of the money, "Cowboy" thanked McGregor for his newfound riches. Cerrone's gratitude got to the point that he said he'd be willing to grant the Irishman an immediate rematch if he pulls off the upset.
"If you're asking me if I redid a contract, (then) yeah, I did," Cerrone said at his media session, "so, thanks, Conor, appreciate that. Moving forward with my next six fights, they're all money fights, so it's not just this one. We did a contract where they do all of them. I'm stoked. Happy to be here. Happy to be here, finally get the respect that this old dinosaur gets for being here. Feels good, 51 (career) fights (counting Saturday's bout).
"I heard (McGregor on Wednesday) talking about April sounds free — or April, March, whatever the f— they said, sounds good to me. I would love to get right back on and get in there in March, so, yeah (I would do an immediate rematch)."
With Cerrone (36-13, one no-contest) preferring to stay the most active fighter in the UFC (he will break a tie Saturday with Jim Miller for most fights in UFC history with his 34th), he should go through that contract in no time even though he's 36 and in the latter stages of his career.
Don't try to tell the fighter who has the most wins and finishes in UFC history that he's nearing the end of the line, though. He feels he has a lot of time left and plenty to offer regardless of how things play out against McGregor.
"I'm young," Cerrone said. "When that old son of a bitch comes knocking every morning, I say, 'Not today, motherf—er. I still got a long time left, so get your old ass out of here and come back another day,' so I try to stay young."