UFC veteran Donald Cowboy Cerrone has broken the silence regarding his sudden withdrawal from the UFC 274 last Saturday.
He was scheduled to duke it out with fellow veteran Joe Lauzon in his first bout in the lightweight division since competing against Justin Gaethje back in 2019.
But a day before the event, he was forced to pull out from the card citing an illness. It was later reported that the illness was a result of food poisoning.
He then took to Instagram to share more detail about his withdrawal. In addition to that, he also shared his retirement plans. Among his goals in the promotion is to reach a total of 50 UFC bouts.
“My heart is broken and torn. I cannot believe I had to make that call. If you know me, you know I only pulled out because I had to.”
“Thank you for the UFC and the medical division for helping me, as far as we could try and make that buzzer, but we just couldn’t get it. ”
“I am saddened that I couldn’t have my 49th and put on a show for y’all. My number is 50, gentlemen. I’ll retire when I get 50, so I’ve got two more fights left in the UFC”
In the caption, he also thanked both UFC President Dana White and his opponent Joe Lauzon for understanding his predicament.
“This is not the way I wanted this fight to go. 48 fights I’ve never had to pull OUT. Thanks you @ufc and like I just said probably 50 is my number!!!! 2 more fights then I ride off into the sunset”
He last competed at UFC Vegas 24 in May 2021 against Alex Morono, losing by TKO in the first round.