Fighter Spotlight: Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone
Tonight, along with numerous other legends, Cowboy Cerrone will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. Let's take a look back at his fascinating career.
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone was born in Denver, Colorado, on March 29, 1983. Cerrone has always been reckless, often finding himself in street fights and spending nights in jail as a youth. When his parents couldn’t take any more of his behavior, he was sent to live with his grandmother at 16. He attended Air Academy High School, where he would start bull riding, his first venture into the world of extreme sports. In his sophomore year of high school, Cerrone began kickboxing, picking up a record of 13-0 as an amateur. After this success, he would move on to professional Muay Thai, going 28-0 with 18 first-round knockouts and four kickboxing championships.
His MMA journey began in 2006 when he first trained at a Freedom Fighters gym in Colorado. He would then find himself at Greg Jackson’s Submission Fighting Gaidojutsu School, surrounded by future legends like Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, and Rashad Evans. Cerrone would have his first professional MMA bout that same year, which he won by first-round submission. He would go 7-0 to start his career on the Colorado regional scene, winning all his fights by submission.
After an excellent start to his career, Cerrone would find himself in the WEC, where he’d continue his winning ways with a submission win in under a minute in his debut. Unfortunately, this win would be overturned when he tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide, a banned diuretic. Following another first-round finish, Cerrone won a unanimous decision over Rob McCullough to earn a shot at the WEC Lightweight title. In what was the Fight of the Night, he lost a split decision to Jamie Varner. Following his title loss, Cerrone would bounce back with a first-round submission over James Krause, earning him another title shot.
This time, he faced Benson Henderson for the interim WEC Lightweight title, losing a unanimous decision in another Fight of the Night performance. He’d find another submission victory over Ed Ratcliff, once again finding himself challenging for Benson Henderson’s Lightweight title. This would be his least successful title challenge to date, losing in the first round by submission. Following this, he picked up two more victories before joining the UFC in 2011.
Cerrone would get off to a great start in the UFC, winning four straight bouts, earning Fight of the Night, Knockout of the Night, and Submission of the Night bonuses. After this, he would fight in a legendary bout with Nate Diaz, which he lost by unanimous decision. Following this bout, Cerrone would go 11-2 with six finishes, 2 Performance of the Night bonuses, a Submission of the Night bonus, and a Performance of the Night bonus. He’d find significant victories over Jeremy Stephens, Edson Barboza, Jim Miller, Eddie Alvarez, and Benson Henderson during this time. Following eight consecutive wins, Cerrone was given his only UFC title challenge in a rematch against Rafael Dos Anjos. Cowboy was finished in the first round, never quite finding himself in the title picture again.
Despite losing his title shot, he went on a solid win streak afterward with four straight finishes and three Performance of the Night bonuses. After his knockout win over Matt Brown, Cerrone’s career began a downturn. Starting in 2017, he would go 4-10-1 in the UFC but still secured five bonuses. He retired in 2022 after a submission loss to fellow legend Jim Miller, leaving an awe-inspiring legacy behind him. It’s nearly impossible to look at the record book for the UFC without seeing the name Donald Cerrone.
Cerrone has the most knockdowns in UFC history at 20 and has the most bouts in the history of Zuffa LLC (UFC, Pride, Strikeforce, WEC) with 48 and the most wins with 29. He is tied for the second most wins, lightweight wins, bonuses, and Performance of the Night bonuses. He has the third most finishes in the UFC at 16, has the most Fight of the Night bonuses in WEC history with 5, and was awarded the 2009 Fight of the Year by MMAfighting.com, Sherdog, and Sports Illustrated for his fight with Benson Henderson. Finding any other fighter with credentials anywhere near that is seriously challenging.
Beyond fighting, Cerrone is well known for his wild lifestyle and is often found hunting or cave-diving. He has three children with his wife Linsday; Dacson Danger Cerrone, Riot River Cerrone, and the third born in January 2023. He owns and operates his own MMA gym, the BMF Ranch, on his property in New Mexico.
Cowboy Cerrone embodied a fighter, willing to fight anyone, anywhere, anytime. He never backed down from a challenge and faced all-comers, securing some legendary victories. While not the winningest fighter, he showed you can always come back, no matter how tough the loss. Cerrone is a symbol in the sport of MMA and is someone fighters will look up to for generations to come.
