Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone finds success by having fun in the cage
An eight-fight winning streak that resulted in a shot at the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title looked great from the outside.
But Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone just wasn’t having fun.
That changed for him on Sunday night as he made his welterweight debut with a first-round submission victory over Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira in the main event of UFC Fight Night 83 in Pittsburgh.
Cerrone had his winning streak snapped with a disappointing first-round knockout loss to Rafael dos Anjos in a December title bout. He decided to move up to welterweight as he looked to bounce back from that loss.
The results were encouraging for Cerrone.
“There was no pressure. This is the first time I really felt alive back there (in the locker room). I had (teammate Derek) Brunson dancing to country music back there with me. It was good. It was just fun,” he said at the post-fight news conference. “That’s what I was telling all my buddies. I was like, ‘I’ve got nothing to worry about. I’m not on a winning streak. I’m fighting in a weight class I’m not even in.’ This was just totally for fun and it was, man. This whole week, the whole buildup, the whole experience.”
Of course, winning helps.
Cerrone has been known for his slow starts, a flaw that again cost him in the 66-second loss to dos Anjos.
He had no such issue on Sunday night. He arrived at the arena early in the afternoon and went through his full walkout to the cage about 10 times to try to better prepare himself mentally once the fight began.
After a few exchanges on the feet, Cerrone got Oliveira to the mat. He quickly secured a mount and locked in a triangle choke moments later to force Oliveira to tap out.
“The game plan was just to engage (right away). I’m tired of starting so slow and trying to figure out the recipe for what we’ve got to do,” he said. “So, it wasn’t about just trying to take him down and submit the kid. It was more to tie up with him and engage on my side. I had to go. It was time to go.”
Cerrone says he will take fights at both 155 and 170 pounds going forward.
While he’s known for being a bit of a loose cannon during his free time, he wants to make sure it’s known how seriously he takes his job.
“I work really hard. People think all I do is play and flip trucks, but that’s just what I do in my off time,” he said. “But I train hard.”
Brunson won his fourth straight fight, knocking out Roan Carneiro in the first round of a middleweight bout.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj
