Cerrone: Fighting Diego Sanchez Would’ve Been Tough 10 Years Ago

Donald Cerrone is happy to give Diego Sanchez one final highlight before he exits the UFC, but it is one that Sanchez would not ever want to watch.

It was announced last week that Donald Cerrone and Diego Sanchez are set to lock horns on May 8 in a clash of former teammates. This fight has been in the makings for quite some time because after Cerrone left Jackson Wink MMA in 2018, Sanchez took exception and criticized how Cerrone conducted himself as a teammate. Sanchez expressed a desire to fight Cerrone then, and that desire remained in 2020 when Sanchez began fishing for a retirement fight.

Donald Cerrone Explains How Sanchez Fight Came About

Now in the first quarter of 2021, Diego Sanchez is getting what he wanted and will face Donald Cerrone in May. Even though Diego Sanchez clearly has wanted this fight for some time, Donald Cerrone mainly accepted the fight because, in true Cowboy fashion, he simply didn’t want to sit around and wait.

“Everyone was booked up,” Cerrone said on his YouTube channel. “All the fights were booked. Yeah, ‘55 is what I wanted to do. Then Diego Sanchez went and, I guess, showed up to the UFC and begged and pleaded with them to make me his retirement fight. So they called me and they asked me and I said, ‘Sure.’”

Prior to this fight being made, Donald Cerrone stated that he would be going back down to lightweight. This fight against Sanchez will be taking place at welterweight, however. Cerrone says that this fight changes nothing regarding his future plans to return to lightweight and that this is just a one-off in which he will enjoy making his former teammate eat his words.

“He says it’s two legends going at it,” Cerrone said. “I don’t think so. He talked a lot shit when I left Jackson’s and now he did the same thing and left. It’s funny. I was just doing what I had to do. Built my own gym, trained my own people, starting making this mold which I think was the right move to do in my career and he had a lot to say about it. He said he wanted to fight me so here’s his chance. Be careful what you wish for. So yeah, this should be a fun highlight reel fight for me.”

Cowboy Believes He Is Facing A Tamer Version of Diego Sanchez

Donald Cerrone is never one to take any opponent lightly. You don’t last this long in a sport like this with that type of mindset. Nonetheless, he does believe that he would have been facing a much tougher task if this fight happened a full decade ago. Instead, Cowboy mostly considers this bout to be tantamount to him handing his former teammate a very unpleasant parting gift.

“I’m not overlooking the kid, by no means,” Cerrone said. “There’s areas where he could be dangerous and if I was fighting old Diego, 10 years ago, yeah, he was tough. Hard pace. I used to train with the guy, I know…

“He wants this to be his ride into the sunset, and I have no problem giving it to him.”

What are your thoughts on Donald Cerrone’s comments about his upcoming fight against Diego Sanchez?