I am starting to get the feeling that people retiring from UFC is just a publicity stunt on their parts these days. They get a special day where everything is dedicated to them and their legacy, they get their name in the headlines, then they go and do something else for a year or so and lo' and behold, here they are in MMA again.
With Cerronne, as well as most other retiring fighters, I think that they would better serve MMA and themselves by staying retired.
The difference between Cerronne and others who retired is that while he is an icon in the sport, he was on a tear of losses when he finally left his gloves in the octagon. His overall record is 36-17, which well, just isn't that great. The reason why he is so fondly remembered is because he puts on good performances, even when he loses, which is almost all of the time.
I think that Cowboy's retirement was at least somewhat influence by his decision or at least the offer, to get involved in acting but that didn't go as well as I think he would have hoped.
He did a film with another ex-MMA fighter Gina Carano that was produced by The Daily Wire, which as far as I know is a political something or other. I watched the film hoping for something great but it just wasn't great. Apparently he has been in some other low-budget films where I guess he was hoping to become a tough guy icon like Vinny Jones but it just doesn't stick for him. I'm not sure exactly why but I'm just not buying it. Perhaps it is because he plays cowboys and his nickname has always been "Cowboy" in MMA. I just seems cheesy to me.
Recently "Cowboy" said that he has re-entered the UFC drug-testing pool which means that he is at least interested in returning to the fighting world. The question is whether or not Dana White is going to be interested in him. Sure, I could see Cowboy in some sort of Fight Night feature but unless they stack the deck in his favor, I don't think it is going to end well for him.
The last time Cerronne had a win in MMA was in 2020 against Rafael Dos Anjos. Prior to that he had 4 losses including a rather embarrassing loss to Conor McGregor that was over in a flash. After that one win in 2020 he had 4 consecutive losses as well, with the last one being his retirement fight.
So what is motivating his "comeback" ambition? Well unfortunately I don't think that actually having a comeback is at all what the 41 year old has in mind. I think he wants to get more fights under his belt so that he can have the record for most fights in UFC history. He only needs one more as he is currently tied with Jim Miller on this stat with 37 fights. Unfortunately for Cowboy, 14 of those fights were losses. He was able to stay in the UFC despite being someone who routinely loses because he was nice, he was a crowd favorite, and he had a persona. I don't think that most MMA fans even know who Donald Cerrone is, but they all know who "Cowboy" is.
This is how I remember Cowboy. He was a whipping boy for the organization as he was so amicable and willing to fight anyone that I believe that UFC used the guy to push new talent. They were never really interested in taking him to the top, and he can't get there because he simply isn't good enough. There were 2 pushes in the past to make him champion but they were both based on his name, not his performance, and he got whooped in both of those contests.
He has a legacy right now, one where people don't actually remember that he was losing basically every single fight during his last 3 years and he hasn't been on a true win-streak since 2016. I believe that if Dana does allow him to come back that this is only going to tarnish his name and his legacy. He has a net worth of around $9 million, which should be enough, right? He also might be using UFC to leverage his stock with producers in films... Who knows? I think it is a bad idea though but at least he stated already that he is not at all interested in boxing against Jake Paul... so that is a good thing