mma / News

Donald Cerrone Says Rankings Don’t Matter, Respects Darren Till For Stepping Up

October 18, 2017 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

Donald Cerrone discussed his fight with Darren Till and more leading up to the UFC Fight Night 118 bout. Ceronne spoke with MMAjunkie ahead of the fight. Highlights are below:

On the UFC’s rankings: “The rankings don’t matter. I feel like in the last year the rankings don’t (expletive) matter anyway, right? ‘Cowboy’ takes a fight with somebody (unranked), and they’re like, ‘What the (expletive)?’ But someone who has the title can fight anybody they want, and it’s like, ‘Ah, that’s just a good fight.’ Come on, man. It seems like the last year the rankings aren’t mattering. I just needed an opponent.”

On people not wanting to face him: “The MMA audience is so stupid. They just think because a guy says, ‘I’ll fight anybody,’ that means they’ll do it. No, that’s not true. They said they’ll fight anybody in public, and then when they get the call and their manager sits down with them and they’re like, ‘They offered us ‘Cowboy’ and their manager says, ‘Stylistically I don’t know if that’s a good matchup for you right now, you’re coming off a loss’ and blah, blah blah. Then they say they didn’t turn it down, but their management turned it down and it’s not them doing it, ‘I didn’t turn it down.’ To me that drives me (expletive) through the wall.”

On Till facing him: “For Darren to say, ‘You know what, I’ve only had a couple fights, I’ll fight a (expletive) legend, let’s go.’ Dude, right on, bro. I was that son-of-a-(expletive) kid. I remember taking those fights. My hat’s off to the kid. The steam’s running on him. Good opportunity for him. But people say no all the time. It’s (expletive) asinine to me. Career-wise, is this a smart fight moving forward in my direction in the rankings? Probably not. This does me nothing. It does something for Darren if he wins. He could do some serious leap-frogging, but for me, nothing. Why be the guy that says I’ll fight anyone, anywhere, anytime – oh, except for him? If I say that I have to live by it.”