VIDEO | Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone Is Changing Weight Divisions Again

After a long career at lightweight and an unsuccessful title show, Cowboy Cerrone made the jump up to welterweight. He rattled off a four-fight win streak before coming short against Jorge Masvidal and Robbie Lawler. His last lost at welterweight was against a guy he claimed he didn’t even know until he accepted the fight. However, he shares with Brendan Schaub and Bryan Callen that he knows who Darren Till is now. He also revealed that after his latest bumpy ride at welterweight, he’s going back to lightweight.

“I have a very clear of who Darren f-cking Till is now. […] I’m going back to [lightweight]. I’m going back to ’55. It was [a tough cut], but I’m only 175, I’ve been waking up at 175 every day, so I was like, pffft, I’m fine. I’m more focused. At ’70 I can just not train and f-ck off. So, I put more into it at ’55. So let’s do it, man. Let’s go back, have a couple more fights. Yeah, I probably won’t take 20 a year anymore. I’ll probably take it down a little bit.” — Donald Cerrone via The Fighter and The Kid.

In this era of MMA, the guys just keep getting bigger and more skilled. Cowboy Cerrone doesn’t go over any reasons on why he’s going back to lightweight other than he’s been waking up smaller, but even Nate Diaz’s year-long venture up to the weight class were met with mixed success back in 2010. Take it as you wish, but the recent news about the possible replacements for Max Holloway may have been a clue to this newly-announced move. Holloway’s manager revealed that Cerrone was a possible opponent at lightweight to make sure that UFC 218 had a main event.

With Cowboy Cerrone’s name, he should be able to get some highly-ranked match-ups at lightweight, which is still a killer shark tank. Of course, Cerrone has never shied away from fighting absolutely anyone, if you remember, his scrap with Till was originally balked at due to Till not being a household name.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 12/1/2017.