Donald Cerrone Happy to Be Done With Losing Streak, Looking to Return to Lightweight

Donald Cerrone spoke following his knockout win over Yancy Medeiros at UFC Fight Night 126. Highlights are below, per MMA Fighting:

On wanting to return to lightweight: “I want ’55. I want to go get that belt. Khabib (Nurmagomedov), I’m coming, baby. I’m coming. I ain’t scared to fight you.”

On the challenges of fighting at middleweight: “These big ol’ boys hit hard and they’re a lot bigger, man. Like, I woke up at 168 (pounds), made weight easy. I wish there was a ‘65 weight class. UFC, can we get a 165 weight class, please? Because that’d be cool. But yeah, I don’t know. Who knows, I’ll just fight whatever they tell me. They’ll call me and say, ‘We need you at 170,’ and I’ll be like, ‘Okay.’ They all pay the same to me so it don’t matter what it is.”

On his recent slump: “Man, it was just funny. Everyone kept asking me, ‘How do you feel, Cowboy, coming off three fights?’ Well, I don’t even really think about it until you guys tell me what a loser I am. It’s like, damn, other than that I don’t even give it much (thought). And everyone’s like, ‘Well, what did you do differently in this camp?’ Nothing. We didn’t change anything, man. We just keep training. The sport’s ups and downs are so crazy. But, I don’t know. I knew coming into this: I did everything right, I had a great team behind me, and I just felt real good coming in, man.”

On the pressure of his fight: “This was a big nerve-y one, man. I mean, losing three in a row, that’s a pretty sucky (streak). Losing four — man, do I keep my job? You know what I’m saying? So it’s like, damn, there was a lot of nerves going on, man. There was a lot of throwing up in the back and being sick. And I don’t care: People, this is like the hardest job to be excellent at, man. And going out there and trying to perform every night, on the one night, is tough. So my hat’s off to all the guys who do the UFC fighting, I love it, I love my job more than anything and there’s no other place I’d rather be tonight.”