Issue 175

January 2019

You don't become the winningest fighter in UFC history without occasionally having to lay down the law. MMA legend Donald Cerrone has always gone his own way.

On November 10, 2018, Donald Cerrone entered the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 140 to face welterweight slugger, Mike Perry in what was his second bid to become the man with the most wins and most finishes in the UFC’s 25-year history.

Unlike his previous fight with Leon Edwards back in June, Cerrone looked masterful throughout and beat Perry in every aspect of the game without ever looking in trouble. The finish came late in the first round following a Perry bodylock takedown that Cerrone reversed on the mat with a beautiful sweep. From there, Cerrone was in his element and after threatening with a number of submissions, he locked on an armbar from which there was never going to be an escape.

The sight of Perry tapping out brought a sense of euphoria to the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado and it marked a historic moment both in the UFC and Cerrone’s career. With 21 wins and 15 finishes inside the UFC Octagon, Cerrone broke multiple long-standing UFC records, but perhaps more importantly, he proved he could get his hand raised without the man who’d been ever present by his side during his MMA career – Greg Jackson.

Cerrone’s relationship with Jackson goes back to 2006 when he started training at Jackson’s Submission Fighting Gaidojutsu School in Albuquerque alongside the likes of Jon Jones, Rashad Evans and Georges St-Pierre. Little did he know it then, but Cerrone was working amongst multiple future world champions and his bond with Jackson continued with the formation of Jackson Wink MMA in 2007 when Jackson teamed up with striking coach, Mike Winkeljohn.

Cerrone swiftly became known as one of Jackson Wink’s most distinguished fighters and he fought 45 times under their banner contending for both WEC and UFC lightweight titles. The relationship appeared to be unbreakable but like so many things in MMA, it was ultimately headed for a bad ending.

Trouble began prior to Cerrone’s clash with Perry when he requested that Perry not be allowed to train at the gym for their fight. It was a request that was apparently turned down by Winkeljohn and it was the beginning of the end of Cerrone’s time at Jackson Wink.

“I wanted to go to 155 and Perry called me out and I said, Sure, no problem,” Cerrone told Joe Rogan on his MMA Show. “So I went to talk to Greg and Wink and say, ‘This guy is brand new to the gym, he’s only been here for one camp, a couple of months, I don’t think it’s OK for him to come in and call me out. That’s not right. So if he is doing that, I don’t think we should allow him to train here for this fight.’ So fucking Winkeljohn tells me, ‘Well, I thought you called him out?’ Just a s*** ass, and lies to your face. So to me, he was like, ‘Yeah, no problem I will clear it up and we won’t have any issues.’

“The next day he calls me on the phone and says, ‘You know what, I thought about it and if we don’t have Perry then I don’t get paid. I need to get paid for this fight. Can you just pay Greg? I don’t make any money for the gym, so we’re just going to go with him.’ He then basically told me I am no longer welcome in the gym. He said the team had a meeting; bulls*** they had a meeting. I talked to everybody and there was no meeting. So to me, the loyalty of Wink taking over the gym is s***, man. [They] turned it into a puppy mill. It’s all about money now. It’s not the old Jackson’s.”

The disagreement brought an end to a relationship that spanned twelve years and it wasn’t a decision that was taken lightly. The open door policy at Jackson Wink simply became too much for Cerrone to handle and it led to him training out of his BMF ranch facility that he built with his own bare hands.

“To see where the gym (Jackson Wink) was to where it is now, it’s heart-breaking to me, to be honest,” Cerrone explained to Rogan. “You want to talk about loyalty, which is the biggest thing in this conversation we are having right now, how they pick someone over me through being loyal. I stuck by Greg, even when the gym started going down. When Winkeljohn merged over, all the big pros left and it turned into a puppy mill. Back when Greg had it and it was its own school, you couldn’t turn up to a pro class. Like some guy couldn’t just come in here an knock on your door like you say you get weirdos all the time. Next thing you know he has shin pads on and he is sparring.

“Greg kind of stepped back for a couple of years and is kind of doing other things. He got burned out I guess. Which is why I created the BMF ranch. I needed somewhere to go and something to do. That is Wink’s argument right now, saying I’m at my own place and I never go there. So I told him I never go there because the people he lets in there now is outlandish.

You pay $150 and you can get on the mats and spar with Holly Holm. You know what I mean? That’s what it’s come to down there. It’s no longer just us, good pros and everyone there for the same missions, trying to get better. It’s asinine what they’ve turned that place into.”

Despite Cerrone severing ties from Jackson Wink, he still to this day remains friends with his longtime striking coach Brandon Gibson. Speaking exclusively to Fighters Only following Cerrone’s history-making night in Denver, Gibson recalled the first time he met him.

“When I first met Donald, he had moved down to Jackson’s and was living in the dorms,” Gibson said. “He’s always been a hard worker, inside the gym and outside.

If he isn’t hitting pads or grappling, he’s working on a project or playing with his toys (motorcycles, boats, mountain bikes).

“I could tell from a young age that Cowboy was destined for greatness and that only become more evident when I was able to be one of his coaches,” he continued. “His work ethic, mental toughness and dedication are unmatched and I know setting the record for the most UFC wins has been a goal of Donald’s for a long time. I was happy to see him achieve it and it was great that it happened in his hometown of Denver.”

Cerrone’s corner for the Perry fight consisted of three of his most trusted coaches with Joe Schilling, Jafari Vanier and Harry St. Leger accompanying him to the Octagon. Whilst his preparations for the fight in regards to his training and coaching were largely different, Cerrone also experienced another life changing moment six days after his fight with Edwards in June when he became a father for the first time to his son, Danger Cerrone.

Following his record-breaking moment when he submitted Perry, Cerrone addressed the crowd and explained how having his son gave him a new source of motivation.

“I got ready too early and they showed me a picture of him (Danger) in his boots and with his buckle and I got so emotional I nearly lost it,” Cerrone said during his Octagon interview after the fight. “I’ve never been like that in my life. Having a baby changed that, I now know what I’m fighting for. I now know. I felt it man. I said you aren’t taking food out of my family’s mouth man. No way, no how.”

Family life has lit a new fire under Cerrone and a move back down to 155-pounds in an attempt to lay hands on the UFC lightweight title appears to be the next stop. With the likes of Tony Ferguson and Dustin Poirier all in and around the title picture, an immediate shot at champion Khabib Nurmagomedov looks unlikely, but since his win over Perry, there has been no shortage of names linked with Cerrone’s next fight including the biggest name in all of MMA.

Just days after UFC Denver, Cerrone took to Instagram to reignite his long-term rivalry with Conor McGregor. “Just waiting on him! I know a guy” was the caption that accompanied a post featuring Cerrone and McGregor side-by-side.

UFC President Dana White shortly after moved to deny that a fight between the two was in the works, but with McGregor and Cerrone having clashed multiple times down the years, there’d be no shortage of material at the UFC’s disposal to build up a fight.

The two first clashed during the UFC’s ‘Go Big’ press conference in September 2015 prior to Cerrone’s rst and only UFC title shot against Rafael dos Anjos. McGregor, who was scheduled to fight Jose Aldo to unify the UFC featherweight title at the time, got stuck into both dos Anjos and Cerrone on a night where the now infamous “McGregor red panty night” one-liner was born.

“Conor has no business coming up to 155,” Cerrone told a reporter after they asked for his thoughts on McGregor. “We’re too big for him and too strong for him. So you can take your little English a** and go...

“You’re too slow and too stiff ,” McGregor retorted, cutting Cerrone off as he spoke. “You’re stiff as a board and I’d snap you in half and that’s it. I see sti ness when I look in that 155-pounds division. Slow, stiff , I feel like they’re stuck in the mud.”

Just a few moments after that exchange, McGregor mocked Cerrone’s cowboy heritage shouting, “Yee-haw” into the microphone and the look on Cerrone’s face said it all. Things were now personal between the two of them and the rivalry has been simmering ever since that day.

Six months after their verbal jousting at the ‘Go Big’ press conference, McGregor was set to meet dos Anjos for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 196 in March 2016. The Brazilian pulled out of the bout just two weeks before and ever reliable Cerrone was one of the first to say he’d face McGregor on short notice. But it was Nate Diaz who ultimately got the nod and McGregor and Cerrone’s paths took very different directions until now.

With Cerrone heading back down to 155-pounds and McGregor looking to get himself back in the UFC title mix, a fight between the two of them would make all the sense in the world. Of course, things are rarely that simple in MMA, but a showdown between two of the biggest stars in the UFC lightweight division would be music to the ears of MMA fans worldwide.

According to those close to him though, a fight with McGregor isn’t the be-all and end-all for Cerrone. Despite all the records, accolades and outstanding fights, Cerrone has yet to win a major MMA world title despite three attempts at claiming the WEC lightweight belt and one failed attempt at winning UFC gold in 2015.

Some might say at the age of 35-years-old, Cerrone’s best chances of winning a UFC title have gone but according to coach Gibson, it’s still well within reach.

“I think Donald just has one more goal left to solidify his legendary career and that’s to bring home UFC gold,” Gibson said. “We have a great relationship and we’ll always be friends, but I truly believe he has what it takes to be a UFC champion and I have done since day one.”

Following his win over Perry, the two met brie y in the back in a moment caught by the camera of Will Harris, creator of the Anatomy of a Fighter series.

Both men, humbled by the experience they’d shared in the Octagon just an hour earlier, embraced, thanked one another for the fight and went to go their separate ways. Before letting go of the handshake, Cerrone told Perry “Thank you for finding it within me.” Perry responded by asking “Finding it within you? What do you mean.” Cerrone simply added, “You lit the re in me.”

It’s hard to believe, but the UFC’s most winningest fighter has only really just got started and he has two new leases of life with his BMF ranch training set up and with the newfound motivation of a baby son to nurture.