Donald Cerrone snapped a three-fight losing streak Sunday with a thrilling first-round technical knockout victory over Yancy Medeiros in the featured bout at a UFC Fight Night event in Austin, Texas.
With the win, Cerrone tied Georges St-Pierre and Michael Bisping for first place on the UFC’s all-time wins list with 20, and also tied Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort for most finishes in UFC history with 14.
Following the fight, “Cowboy” had some interesting remarks when he was interviewed by the Fox Sports post-fight show and asked about what the future might hold.
Cerrone and Medeiros fought in the 170-pound welterweight division but Cerrone said he’s interested in returning to the 155-pound lightweight division, taking another run at the title and challenging perhaps the division’s most feared fighter, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
“I want ’55 pounds. I want to go get that belt,” Cerrone said. “Khabib, I’m coming, baby. I’m coming. I ain’t scared to fight you.”
Cerrone made his UFC debut in 2011 after the WEC was absorbed by the UFC. The 34-year-old competed 19 times at lightweight in the Octagon and holds notable 155-pound victories over former champions Eddie Alvarez and Benson Henderson, plus Edson Barboza, Evan Dunham and Jim Miller among others. He fought for the lightweight title twice, but lost in the opening round of both championship tilts — first to Anthony Pettis in 2013 and then to Rafael dos Anjos in 2015.
The tough weight cut down to 155 pounds was one of the contributing factors to him moving up to welterweight two years ago.
Cerrone began his welterweight stint with four consecutive stoppage wins over Alex Oliveira, Patrick Cote, Rick Story and Matt Brown in 2016 before dropping three straight to Jorge Masvidal, Robbie Lawler and Darren Till in 2017 before ending his slump Sunday.
“These big old boys hit hard and they’re a lot bigger,” Cerrone said of his 170-pound opponents. “Like, I woke up at 168 [pounds], made weight easy. I wish there was a [165-pound] weight class. UFC, could we get a 165 weight class, please? ‘Cause that would be cool.”
Cerrone, never one to turn down a proposed opponent, added with a laugh: “I’ll just fight whatever they tell me. They’ll call me and tell me, ‘We need you at 170,’ and I’ll be like, ‘OK.’ I’ll take any fight. They all pay the same to me so it don’t matter what it is.”
Nurmagomedov is slated to fight interim champion Tony Ferguson at UFC 223 in April, so if a Cerrone-Nurmagomedov fight is ever put together it likely won’t be for quite some time.
Here are the complete results from UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Medeiros …
MAIN CARD
— Donald Cerrone def. Yancy Medeiros by TKO
— Derrick Lewis def. Marcin Tybura by TKO
— James Vick def. Francisco Trinaldo by unanimous decision
— Curtis Millender def. Thiago Alves by knockout
— Brandon Davis def. Steven Peterson by unanimous decision
— Sage Northcutt def. Thibault Gouti by unanimous decision
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Carlos Diego Ferreira def. Jared Gordon by TKO
— Geoff Neal def. Brian Camozzi by submission (bulldog choke)
— Roberto Sanchez def. Joby Sanchez by submission (rear-naked choke)
— Lucie Pudilova def. Sarah Moras by unanimous decision
— Alex Morono def. Josh Burkman by submission (guillotine choke)
— Oskar Piechota def. Tim Williams by knockout
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