I like Cowboy Cerrone as much as the next guy. He seems like a good dude, did a ton of fights, and was a personality inside the octagon that few others could match. His persona was a good one and he played the "Cowboy" part of it very well. There's just one problem that I have with him being inducted into the Hall of Fame for UFC: He wasn't very good.
Cerrone had a lot going for him in that he was dependable, always put on a show, was kind to his opponents and never, as far as I know, resorted to trash-talking in order to gain publicity and fame. He would take fights on short notice and it seemed as though he was one of the only fighters that was on basically every other pay per view. He was a draw for audiences, that's for sure, but his fight history is one of what in the wrestling world would be called a "jobber." He was thrown into fights that he was expected to lose, especially towards the end of his career.
Even the constantly evil and bad-mouthing of opponents Conor McGregor couldn't get a rise out of the perpetually happy Cerrone, and I always admired him for that. He was the total package as far as professionalism is concerned, that much is dead certain. But when you get into the Hall of Fame I feel as though a lot of the reasoning behind it should be concerned a great deal on whether or not you were a top-tier fighter during your career and while Cowboy came close a few times, he was never really a threat to the true top guys in the sport.
The fact that the man did more than 50 professional fights is impressive for sure. There are very few men or women that ever make it to that point, but when your retired record is 36 wins and 17 losses, do you really belong on a list of the "best ever" in the sport?
The last time Cowboy actually won a fight was in May of 2019 guys. That was a long time ago. In the years that followed Cowboy lost to Ferguson, Gaethje, McGregor, Pettis, Morono, and finally in his retirement fight to Jim Miller, who is someone I never even think about.
You have to go back a long ways in time to a fight win-streak that was performed by Cowboy and other than Iaquinta, do you even know who any of these guys are? We have to go all the way back to 2014 to find a time where it could be considered that Cerrone was a real contender. This is when he had 7 wins in a row including 5 in the same 12 month period. I admire that this can be done by anyone, but once again, if we look at the names of the people that he defeated they are a who's who of who cares other than Edson Barbosa and Benson Henderson.
The UFC is filled with a ton of politics and also favoritism shown to the fighters that can bring in the crowds. I think this is the major reason why Cowboy was even considered for the Hall of Fame.
Personally, I don't think he belongs there because being a nice guy that brings in crowds is not a good enough reason to be considered one of the best that the sport has ever known. If that is the criteria, then lets go ahead and put Brock Lesner and maybe even CM Punk in the Hall of Fame as well.