Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone wants to return to the UFC, but he’s having difficulty finding welcoming arms. During the post-event press conference for the season finale of Season 8 of Dana White’s Contender Series, the UFC President told the media he loved Cerrone but hated the idea of him coming back to fight in the UFC.
On Wednesday, former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion and current analyst Daniel Cormier said he was against Cerrone returning. Cormier’s reasoning was different than White’s.
While White said he didn’t want to see Cerrone get punched in the face anymore and would love to work out another way for him to earn money, Cormier cited Cowboy’s open steroid use.
Cerrone retired in June 2022 after losing to another UFC veteran, Jim Miller, via submission. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023, seemingly putting a stamp on a career that saw him go 38-17 with two no contests in his MMA career.
Cerrone started the buzz about a return to the Octagon on his Instagram account as he openly admitted to using Testosterone Replacement Therapy and “a bunch of peptides,” both of which would be banned substances in the current drug-free testing program fighters are required to enter to compete.
“He never lied!” Cormier said. “He never lied about what he was doing, what he was going to do, and how he was going to apply it to his life. But at the end of the day, for a few years now, he’s been openly using steroids. I like Donald now, but it doesn’t matter what I feel about him as a person, buddy, or whatever our relationship is today. I don’t quite know what it is, but he’s not been clean!”
Cormier considers Cerrone’s whole plan to get on performance-enhancing drugs to obtain a boost and get off of them in time to pass the drug tests as a “loophole.” Cormier says, “I’m against it.”
“And even if he can come back, take tests, pass those tests, for him to get back, he has to do all of those things and all those enhancers to allow for him to feel like he can compete at that level again,” Cormier said. “So he would test clean, but isn’t that just a loophole?”
Sports are packed with copycats.
When a player or team finds an edge with a legal or illegal method, some of their peers will attempt to follow their lead. It could be a dangerous trend to start. Cormier is correct, the UFC should consider all of the potential effects of allowing Cerrone to take this route back into the UFC.
“I’m against it,” Cormier said. “I’m honestly against the idea that you can find a loophole, go and use that loophole, feel better while using that loophole, and come back and fight.”
Here is a look at the entire video on Cormier’s YouTube channel. The segment begins at the 2:32 mark.
Cerrone is attempting to do something that hasn’t been done in the UFC before–at least as far as we know. It’s up to the UFC to decide if they want to allow Cerrone to blaze this path.
