From fighting to unionizing, Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone is a trailblazer
LOS ANGELES – Donald Cerrone has long been one of the most popular fighters in the UFC simply because he’s been a maverick in a sport that has slowly but steadily gone corporate.
Whether it’s taking fights a couple weeks apart, jumping weight classes, or taking fights that don’t make sense on paper, Cerrone has a contrarian side which, combined with an exciting style in the cage, has endeared him to fight fans around the world.
So it should come as no surprise Cerrone is just as mischievous outside the Octagon as well. Cerrone walked into a meeting with Southern California reporters on Wednesday, ostensibly to promote his fight with Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 205 on Nov. 12 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, and turned it into a referendum on the upcoming elections.
Specifically, he wanted to challenge left-leaning Californians on their views of Republican candidate Donald J. Trump.
“He’s not just like a racist bigot who wants to build a wall and scare the Mexicans out of here,” Cerrone said of Trump. “He doesn’t. I understand this is what your aunt’s telling you when she’s drinking wine on Saturday night but that’s not really what’s happening. Just talking politics is crazy, but we’ve got two options. Do we go with the indicted girl who’s full of [expletive], or do we go with the wild Conor McGregor Trump?”
Lest you think the Colorado native and rural New Mexico resident neatly fits into preconceived notions of red states or blue, though, Cerrone is just as fired up about the notion of starting a union – hardly a position usually associated with conservative politics.
The 33-year-old Cerrone, who has won 11 of his past 12 fights, is one of the many among the ranks to notice the $4.1 billion price tag affixed to this summer’s sale of the UFC to Hollywood entertainment conglomerate WME-IMG.
So Cerrone didn’t even wait for reporters to ask before declaring he’d be the one to go ahead and help spearhead a fighters union.
“I’ll be the guy,” Cerrone said. “I’m not scared. All I’m saying is we need a fighters union 1,000, a million percent, especially with the new owners coming in, and I think now is the time.”
Several fighters have spoken out in favor of a union. Mark Hunt has volunteered to get the ball rolling. Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson has voiced support.
But Hunt is at the tail end of his career, and Henderson now fights in Bellator. It will take big names in their prime in the UFC to make a union work, and Cerrone says he’ll put his money where his mouth is.
“I’ll gladly put my head on the chopping block and say I’ll be the front face of this mother-[expetive],” Cerrone said. ”I’ve paid my way, man. I’ve earned the right to sit here and speak. I think there’s a lot of people that are scared and not willing to step up and do it. It’s gonna take a couple of us and it needs to be done.”
“We have no direction,” Cerrone continued. “We have no one to stand up for the fighters’ rights. If something bad were to happen, no one backs him and it’s just him alone and everything gets washed out. We need people to stand up and fight for it.”
Mind you, Cerrone isn’t unhappy with his current situation. He’s long been one of the UFC’s most active fighters. The bout with Gastelum will mark the fourth consecutive year that Cerrone fought precisely four times (assuming he doesn’t get another one of his trademark short-notice bouts before the year is out and fights five times).
Cerrone values the flexibility in his schedule, the sort of which enabled him to jump up to welterweight after losing a title challenge to then-lightweight champ Rafael Dos Anjos last December and build a new three-fight win streak. And he’s willing to leave some up-front money on the table to make it work.
“I’ve got a contract and I’m happy with it,” Cerrone said. “Probably not as happy as I’d be making [Conor McGregor] money. I just want to keep fighting. It’s a fine line. I’m a guy who likes to keep fighting five, six times a year, so if I ask for too much money they might say, well, we pay you too much, we can’t let you keep jumping backwards and forwards and promote it. The money I’m making is good to keep grabbing short-notice fights. I love them, they’re my favorite ones. No time to think about it, just keep it going.”
But still, Cerrone sees the bigger picture, and at the end of the day, he’s got more respect for people who back up their talk than those who just sit around and complain. That applies to the fighters union and that also applies to the election, regardless of whom you choose to vote for.
“You can’t have a voice if you sit on the sideline and complain,” Cerrone said. “If you really think Hillary is the way to go, or if Trump is the way to go, go vote. Vote for your congressmen and senators, vote to legalize marijuana. But don’t sit home. Go vote.”
Popular MMA video on Yahoo Sports:
