Donald Cerrone

Background

Donald Anthony Cerrone was born in Denver, Colorado. He is of Irish and Italian descent. At a young age, Cerrone was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder but never received treatment for it. Growing up he was considered a troubled child. He would eventually start street fighting and would often end up in jail overnight. When Cerrone was about sixteen, his parents became fed up with his behavior and sent him off to live with his paternal grandmother Jerry Cerrone, who took him in with open arms as Cerrone would later claim. She would sometimes bail him and his friends out of jail after they got into another fight and according to Cerrone himself that the next morning she would never bring up exactly what happened the night before, but instead just repeat the phrase "you know what you did" and leave it at that.

Cerrone attended Air Academy High School where he began professional bull riding, thus earning the nickname "Cowboy". At the age of twenty, through the advice of a friend, Cerrone began training in kickboxing and later Muay Thai. After winning a few kickboxing competitions and compiling a Muay Thai record of 28-0-1 (nineteen wins by TKO), he decided to pursue a career in mixed martial arts.

Mixed martial arts career

Cerrone began training in mixed martial arts at Inyodo Martial Arts in Gypsum, Colorado. In 2006, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico and began training at Greg Jackson's Submission Fighting Gaidojutsu academy.

World Extreme Cagefighting

After compiling a record of 7–0, Cerrone was signed to fight in the WEC. His first fight in the promotion was against Kenneth Alexander. Originally a win via submission in 56 seconds of the first round, the decision was changed to a no-contest when Cerrone tested positive hydrochlorothiazide, a banned diuretic.

Cerrone was scheduled to face Rich Crunkilton at WEC 34, but Crunkilton was forced off the card with an injury and replaced by Danny Castillo. Cerrone won the bout via armbar in the first round.

Cerrone then faced Rob McCullough at WEC 36 on November 5, 2008. He won the bout via unanimous decision. The performance earned both fighters the Fight of the Night award.

On January 25, 2009, at WEC 38 he fought WEC Lightweight Champion, Jamie Varner, losing via technical split decision. The fight was highly competitive and won the Fight of the Night award. However, the fight was stopped prematurely in the fifth round when Cerrone hit Varner's temple with an illegal knee while Varner was still on the ground. Varner was given time to recover, but he was unable to continue, noting that he had double vision and had sustained a broken hand.

Cerrone was again scheduled to face Rich Crunkilton on June 7, 2009, at WEC 41, but Crunkilton was forced off the card with an injury and replaced by James Krause. Cerrone defeated Krause via first round submission.

Cerrone and Varner had agreed to a rematch, tentatively at WEC 43, but Varner was unable to receive medical clearance as a result from his hand injury. Cerrone fought Benson Henderson for the WEC Interim Lightweight Championship on October 10, 2009, at WEC 43 in San Antonio, Texas, losing by unanimous decision. Both fighters were awarded the Fight of the Night bonus award. Cerrone credited Henderson for being "a hell of a fighter" and conceded that he was slow to start the action, which may have cost him the match.

Cerrone faced Ed Ratcliff on December 19, 2009, in the event headliner at WEC 45. Cerrone defeated Ratcliff via third round submission. The bout also earned Cerrone Fight of the Night honors.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

In October 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting merged with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As part of the merger, all WEC fighters were transferred to the UFC.

Cerrone faced Paul Kelly on February 5, 2011, at UFC 126, replacing an injured Sam Stout. He won the fight via submission due to a rear naked choke. For their performance, both fighters earned Fight of the Night honors.

Cerrone was expected to face Mac Danzig on June 11, 2011, at UFC 131. However, Danzig was forced out of the bout with a chest injury and replaced by promotional newcomer Vagner Rocha. Cerrone won the fight via unanimous decision.

Cerrone was expected to face Paul Taylor on August 14, 2011, at UFC on Versus 5, replacing an injured John Makdessi. However, Taylor was forced out of the bout with a foot injury and replaced by Charles Oliveira. Cerrone won the fight via TKO three minutes into the opening round, earning Knockout of Night honors for the performance.

Cerrone faced Dennis Siver on October 29, 2011, at UFC 137, replacing Sam Stout. Cerrone defeated Siver via first round submission, earning Submission of the Night honors.

Cerrone next faced Nate Diaz at UFC 141 on December 30, 2011. He lost the back-and-forth fight via unanimous decision, in a performance that earned both participants Fight of the Night honors. Despite knocking Diaz off of his feet multiple times with leg kicks, Cerrone could not offset the volume punches from Diaz, as Diaz landed 82% of the strikes he threw en route to his victory over Cerrone. On his loss to Diaz Cerrone stated, "You know instinct, I think that's the thing a lot of people aren't doing. That's where I made the mistake in my last fight, is, you need to learn to turn your brain off and just go by reactions. Don't go in there and try and think and do things and fight with your brain, because that's the thing, I got angry and tried to kill him, and when you try to go [too] hard you just can't do it."

Cerrone was expected to face Yves Edwards on May 15, 2012, at UFC on Fuel TV: The Korean Zombie vs. Poirier. However, Edwards was forced from the bout with an injury and replaced by Jeremy Stephens. Cerrone defeated Stephens by unanimous decision.

Return to welterweight

As the first fight of his new six-fight contract, Cerrone headlined UFC 246 when he faced Conor McGregor on January 18, 2020, in a welterweight bout. He lost the fight via technical knockout in the first round.

Cerrone faced Anthony Pettis in a rematch on May 9, 2020, at UFC 249. He lost the fight by unanimous decision although some consider it controversial.

Cerrone faced Niko Price on September 19, 2020, at UFC Fight Night 178. Price was docked a point in round one for repeated eye pokes, and the fight would be declared a majority draw. However, it was later overturned to a no contest (NC) after Price tested positive for marijuana.

Cerrone was scheduled to face Diego Sanchez on May 8, 2021, at UFC on ESPN 24. However, Sanchez was removed from the fight on April 28 for undisclosed reasons and he was replaced by Alex Morono. He lost the fight via technical knockout in round one.

Cerrone was scheduled to face Joe Lauzon in a lightweight bout on April 30, 2022, at UFC Fight Night 208. The bout was moved to May 7, 2022, at UFC 274 for undisclosed reasons. Despite both competitors weighing in, the bout was canceled the day of the event due to Cerrone falling ill. The pair was rescheduled to meet at UFC on ESPN 37 on June 18, 2022. The bout was yet again scrapped the day of this event due to Lauzon suffering from leg cramping.

Cerrone, as a replacement for Bobby Green, faced Jim Miller on July 2, 2022, at UFC 276. He lost the fight via guillotine choke submission in the second round and subsequently announced his retirement during the post-fight interview.

Professional grappling career

Cerrone competed against Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of Submission Underground 19 on December 20, 2022. The match went to EBI overtime and Cerrone won by armbar at 20 seconds of the first round.

On December 19, 2021, Cerrone competed in his first professional grappling match against Craig Jones under the Combat Jiu-Jitsu ruleset at the Featherweight edition of the CJJ World Championships. He tapped out after being put in a rear-naked choke by Jones a little over halfway into the regulation period.

On December 30, 2021, Cerrone competed in a grappling match against Joe Solecki at Fury Pro Grappling 3. Solecki submitted Cerrone with a rear-naked choke at 3:17 of their match.

Acting career

Cerrone has had small roles in film and television since 2017, including appearing in the 2020 Netflix film Spenser Confidential.

He acted in a starring role, opposite Gina Carano, in the 2022 Daily Wire film Terror on the Prairie.

Personal life

Cerrone and his wife Lindsay have three sons.

Cerrone is good friends with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator Rob McElhenney, who has trained at BMF Ranch, and Cerrone made an appearance alongside Paul Felder, Megan Olivi and Dana White in the season 12 episode "Wolf Cola: A Public Relations Nightmare."

BMF Ranch

In 2014, Cerrone established an MMA gym at his property in Edgewood, New Mexico to lower his training camp costs by hosting his training partners at the estate. Coaches like Brandon Gibson, Jafari Vanier, and Jonavin Webb are usually situated at the ranch with fighters like Lando Vannata, John Dodson and Leonard Garcia.

Controversies

Racism accusations

In 2014, the UFC lightweight fighter Bobby Green accused Cerrone of making racist comments towards him and about black people, in a since deleted interview with journalist Ariel Helwani. Cerrone dismissed his claims, maintaining that if he were racist, he wouldn't "have three black guys living with [him]".

Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling came forward with similar allegations in 2016, detailing an altercation between him and Cerrone during UFC International Fight Week. According to Sterling, after Cerrone made a comment about his gold chain that made him feel "uncomfortable", he then used an "inappropriate word" in front of Sterling. While Sterling never specified what the word was, he strongly implied it had racial overtones. When he asked for an explanation, Cerrone allegedly started to threaten him, telling him that he'd "beat the fuck out of him" and "do what Caraway did to him", referring to Sterling's UFC bout earlier that year in which he suffered his first professional loss to Bryan Caraway.

Cerrone has been criticized for his casual online usage of the racial slur "nigga", including in a 2016 exchange on Instagram with his sparring partner Said Nurmagomedov, in which each one referred to the other as "my nigga".

Allegations of sexual harassment

In an interview with Ariel Helwani, the UFC fighter Bobby Green accused Cerrone of sexually harassing his female fans at UFC Fan Expo signing in 2014. According to Green, he groped and behaved inappropriately towards the women that came to take a photo with him.

"He's groping these women. They've got husbands, they've got fiancees, they've got boyfriends, I'm like, that's messed up man, just because this guy's a nerd and he can't do anything to you, you're going to do this to him. Girlfriend's cute, Donald Cerrone, picks her up, grabs her ass, starts grabbing on there and stuff and he's like 'I'm Donald Cerrone.' I'm like, 'you're going to piss somebody off, you get the wrong person they're going to get pissed.' He's like, 'what are they going to do to me, I'll knock them out.' "

In an interview with Sherdog, Cerrone denied these accusations. "That was two years ago, ya' know? Why didn't any of this come out? Why didn't a fan file a lawsuit or say, 'Yo, Cowboy is groping my wife,' c'mon." he said of the alleged incidents.

Homophobic and transphobic comments

As part of his trash talk to describe Jamie Varner in a build up of their second fight at WEC 51 in 2010, Cerrone commented that Varner is "a fag" and that he hoped to kill him in the ring. After WEC officials publicly condemned his remarks, he apologized for the death threats on Twitter, but did not mention the slur usage in his apology.

Cerrone was widely criticized for his use of a homophobic slur to describe Daniel Cormier's performance against Anderson Silva at UFC 200 during a Q&A at UFC Fan Expo, where he was taking part in a panel covering the event along with CM Punk and Joe Gooden. When talking with CM Punk about the worst performances of that night, he criticized Cormier's wrestling-heavy game plan asking "How you going to give up weight and fight like a fag, man?".

After an immediate backlash, a UFC senior official told the MMA Junkie portal that the organization was "incredibly disappointed by Cerrone's comments" and will be meeting with him to discuss the severity of the situation. Cerrone reacted to the criticism with a since-deleted Instagram post, which showed a photo of him wearing a then-recently released UFC rainbow T-shirt in support of the LGBTQ community and in which he apologized for his choice of words.

While Jason Ellis was interviewing Cerrone on his radio show, Ellis mentioned he is bisexual and has had sexual relationships with men, which appeared to make Cerrone uncomfortable. During his appearance on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast some weeks later, Cerrone called Ellis "a faggot", adding that he had not wanted to say it to Ellis directly. Ellis voiced his disappointment with Cerrone's statements in an interview with outsports.com.

When discussing U.S. president Donald Trump's attempts to ban transgender people from serving in the US armed forces on an episode of The Fighter and the Kid podcast, Cerrone objected to the host, Brendan Schaub, using female pronouns to describe a trans woman, and stated: "I'm just saying, if you got a dick, you're a dude."

Hoelzer Reich sponsorship

Until 2009, Cerrone was one of a number of MMA fighters sponsored by Hoelzer Reich, a t-shirt company that includes symbols such as the Iron Cross on its t-shirts, which detractors have stated is Nazi imagery. The brand was banned by the UFC in 2009.

Championships and accomplishments

Kickboxing

Dominion Warrior Inc

Dominion Warrior Muay Thai World Lightweight (-73.4 kg/162 lb) Championship (One time)

International Sport Karate Association

ISKA Amateur Colorado State Middleweight (-75 kg/165 lb) Oriental Championship (One time)

Kickdown Classic

KDC Amateur Welterweight Championship (One time)

S-1

2006 S-1 Muay Thai U.S. Lightweight (-73.4 kg/162 lb) Tournament Championship 270

Mixed martial arts

Ultimate Fighting Championship

UFC Hall of Fame (Modern wing, Class of 2023)

Fight of the Night (Six times) vs. Paul Kelly, Nate Diaz, Melvin Guillard, Alexander Hernandez, Al Iaquinta & Tony Ferguson

Tied (Justin Gaethje) for second most Fight of the Night bonuses in UFC/WEC history (11) (behind Cub Swanson)

Knockout of the Night (Three times) vs. Charles Oliveira, Melvin Guillard, & Adriano Martins

Submission of the Night (Two times) vs. Dennis Siver & Evan Dunham

Performance of the Night (Seven times) vs. Edson Barboza, Jim Miller, Alex Oliveira, Patrick Côté, Rick Story, Mike Perry, & Alexander Hernandez

Most Post-Fight bonuses in UFC/WEC combined history (23)

Second most Post-Fight bonus awards in UFC history (18)

Tied (Conor McGregor, Ovince Saint Preux, Tom Aspinall, Carlos Prates & Song Yadong) for fourth most Performance of the Night bonuses in UFC history (7)

Fifth most Post-Fight bonuses in UFC Lightweight division history (14)

Tied (Andrei Arlovski) for fifth most wins in UFC history (23)

Tied (Beneil Dariush) for third most wins in UFC Lightweight division history (17)

Most wins in Zuffa, LLC (UFC, Pride, WEC, Strikeforce) history (29)

Filmography