Donald Cerrone Will Not Be Returning To The UFC

Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone has no intentions of returning to fighting after his retirement, wants to be in movies.

Last updated on May 12th, 2023

Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone is happy in his retirement with no intentions to return to fighting.

There has been a growing trend with athletes at the very highest of their sports. We have more often in the past couple of years seen athletes retire for one or more years and then decide to return to their sport. In mixed martial arts that trend is growing exponentially. Most recently Henry Cejudo returned from a three-year absence, and Jon Jones was away from the sport for a while, although not actually retired. We are also seeing fighters retiring from MMA and moving to other sports such as boxing. That does not seem to be the case with Donald Cerrone.

Cerrone retired from the UFC in July 2022 at UFC 276. The announcement came following his loss to Jim Miller by guillotine choke. The loss was his sixth in a row and it was time for “Cowboy” to hang his gloves up. Since making the decision he has no inkling of a return. Damon Martin of MMA Fighting received news of this on Thursday.

Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone remains retired with no plans to fight again — per sources close to him. His name has popped up lately so I asked around and it seems he's happy in retirement.

Cowboy is focused on acting and race car driving these days and good for him!

— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) May 11, 2023

Donald Cerrone is focused on racing and acting during his retirement from MMA

Since his retirement, Cerrone has been a very busy man according to his social media page. He has started a family, has continued his acting career, and is now racing cars. Throughout his UFC career, Cerrone was known for his always-ready, anyone-anytime attitude. He was always up for taking on a short-notice fight and did so with a carefree attitude and a smile on his face.

During his UFC career, Cerrone faced some of the biggest names in the sport including Conor McGregor, Tony Ferguson, Anthony Pettis, Justin Gaethje, Jorge Masvidal, and more. Although he never won the illustrious UFC title he did fight for the belt back in 2015 after a string of eight wins.

This year Cerrone will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. His in-cage successes will be honored as he continues his outside-the-cage successes starring in TV and movies and on the racetrack.

Nicole Bosco

Nicole is a graduate of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications. She is a sports writer specializing in MMA and surfing. When not writing, Nicole likes to spend time outside, playing with her kids, and watching baseball.