UFC President Dana White was a guest on Robert Griffin III’s Outta Pocket Podcast, and he discussed many topics. One was retired UFC Hall-of-Famer Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone’s proposed comeback.
Last week, Cerrone made headlines when he announced his decision to return to the UFC for two more fights, bringing him to 50 under the Zuffa banner. Cerrone has admittedly been using substances that would be banned if he were a part of the organization’s drug-testing program.
However, he plans to come off of Testosterone Replacement Therapy and peptides he’s been taking to test clean for his return.
While former UFC champion, analyst Daniel Cormier and, reigning Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen, and many others are against Cerrone’s attempted comeback because of his open use of steroids, White has another reason for disliking the idea.
White told Griffin and his wife, Grete, who is his co-host that he doesn’t want to see Cerrone take any more damage.
“You retire for a reason,” White said, repeating a concept he shared the day Cerrone’s intentions went public via his Instagram account. “The day that you decided to retire, it was for a reason… Let’s say I say, ‘alright Cowboy, come back and you can get two more fights.’ That’s just gonna be it, he just wants two more fights? No, it’s not, and he’s already proved everything there is to prove, and I don’t wanna see him take anymore damage.”
Here is a look at the entire interview.
Cerrone was inducted into the UFC’s Hall of Famer in July 2023, along with Jose Aldo, another legend who has since returned to fighting. Cerrone and Aldo’s situations are much different. When Aldo retired, he’d lost a unanimous decision to current champion Merab Dvalishvili in August 2022.
Aldo left and had three boxing matches, going 2-0-1, before returning and signing a new deal with the UFC. Despite being 38 years old, Aldo still looks like one of the top bantamweights in the world. He lost a controversial split decision to Mario Bautista at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City, but there is no doubt he could still garner a top matchup with a good 135-pounder in the UFC. That’s not Cerrone’s situation.
When Cowboy retired, he was winless in his last seven fights. The only fight he had during that stretch he didn’t lose was a no-contest to Niko Price in September 2020. Repeated eye pokes from Price caused the fight to be ruled a majority draw initially, but he also tested positive for marijuana, which led to the no-contest ruling.
Aside from that fight, Cerrone was on a massive skid. In his last fight, another veteran, Jim Miller, submitted him in the second round. That marked the fifth time Cerrone had been finished in three years. That perfectly explains what White was referring to when he said he doesn’t want to see Cerrone take more damage.
While White has now twice said he is against Cerrone returning, he’s yet to slam the door on the idea altogether. We’ll see if Cerrone decides to be persistent and ultimately gets his way, or if he is forced to move on.
