Donald Cerrone

Like, he was patient.

He wasn't, like, going out there guns blazing like he did against Donald Cerrone and getting himself into exchanges where he could get caught or get taken down.

He, he sat back against the fence near his no- near his corner and just kinda, like, was like, "I'm gonna wait.

I'm gonna wait." And I remember trying to cut an angle on him and hit a hook, and he just ducked right under it.

Yeah

... similar to Cowboy.

I ate the same thing every single day.

Like, uh, during the time when I first moved to Colorado, uh, Nate was, Nate Marquardt was fighting-

And that was kind of like my gauge.

So it's like you have to find what works for you, and everybody is different.

And the key, like you had said something about Donald Cowboy Cerrone, which you're s- you guys are very similar.

C- Cowboy's one of those X Games guys that will jump motorcycles.

Hmm

... maybe go hang out with, like, uh, Donald Cerrone or something like that, you know? Uh, go, go, go, go shoot some firearms, and go rope some cattle or whatever it is that you wanna do.

But the, the fight game is, the fight game is passing you by, son.

Yeah.

I want to see champions from other organizations brought in, thrown straight in at the deep end, because that's the fun shit.

When Eddie Alvarez came in against Donald Cerrone and lost.

When Justin Gaethje came in against Michael Johnson and had an absolute barn burner.

These are fun fucking fights.

The problem is people are so entitled nowadays, especially this generation, where they have to be the shark, and they're afraid to be the fish, you know? Yeah.

my old gym you know nothing but respect for them but I was a fish among sharks and as I got better and progressed of course I almost outgrew the gym in my opinion where there wasn't enough sharks in the gym anymore and I felt less and less confident going into fights because I knew I wasn't competing against higher level guys inside of the gym in preparation for fights because the main focus was on the coaches who were still actively competing in the UFC and so Here at Jackson Wink, I was instantly the goldfish among sharks with Carlos Conant, Cub Swanson, Donald Cerrone, Steve Garcia.

I mean, the list goes on, as you know.

And so I had to make a decision.

So when he does lose, usually in spectacular fashion, he is still valuable.

He is Donald Cerrone reborn without the stupid fucking hat.

Anytime, anywhere, anyone.

And that risk taking led him to move down to featherweight after Islam.

But if I would go to California, if I would go to New York, I was way more recognized always, you know? So it wasn't 'til, like, the Ben That everywhere I went in Miami, it was like...

And I'm everywhere, I'm outside always, you know? Everybody's just going crazy, and I knew, it was like, "Damn, this is different." 'Cause at the time I'd been fighting for 16 years already, and I fought famous guys like Donald Cerrone, and it wasn't a big difference when I knocked him out, you know? I came back home, it wasn't, it wasn't too known.

But after the Ben, everybody, everywhere knew me.

That was crazy.