Despite temptation of featherweight, UFC boss White likes Cerrone at lightweight

(This story appears in today’s USA TODAY.)

Donald Cerrone has a fight this week at lightweight, where he’s been his entire career.

But lately, there seems to be some buzz about the UFC’s resident “Cowboy” making the move to featherweight. Cerrone has expressed interest in the drop, and there’s at least one fighter at 145 pounds who would love to see him there.

But even though dropping weight classes has become the hot thing to do in MMA, Cerrone has an important critic of his potential to make the move: UFC President Dana White.

Cerrone (21-6 MMA, 8-3 UFC) on Saturday faces Adriano Martins (25-6 MMA, 1-0 UFC) on the main card of UFC on FOX 10 (FOX, 8 p.m. ET) at Chicago’s United Center. It’s not a high-profile opponent for Cerrone, but that matters less to him than a quick return to work. He also wouldn’t mind another win streak like the six-fight run he went on in 2010-11.

“I love staying busy. I sure as hell hope (this starts another run). Those runs are good on my bank account, too,” Cerrone, famous for spending his fight winnings and bonus checks on high-priced toys like boats and jetskis, told USA TODAY Sports.

Cerrone said he has done no looking into the background of his opponent, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, and that is his process going into most fights. Surely he knew a little something about past opponents like Anthony Pettis, Melvin Guillard or Nate Diaz. But against Martins, he’ll be going in blind.

“I haven’t seen one second of his fight footage,” he said. “I couldn’t even tell you what the kid looks like. I’ll find out come weigh-ins. I don’t care. It’s nothing new. Same old mentality.”

He’d likely take the same philosophy into fights at 145 pounds if he chose to make the drop, part of the “get in there and do me – take no (expletive) from no man” trademark of his “Cowboy” brand.

At featherweight, recent winner Cole Miller would love to see Cerrone make the move. For Miller, a former lightweight, turnabout was fair play after what he said was a similar callout from Cerrone years ago. Plus, Miller said the two have an outside-the-cage grudge dating back to 2007.

And while Cerrone said the right circumstances could open the door for a new weight class, he doubted Miller’s callout would be it.

“I don’t even know who that is, so it doesn’t matter,” Cerrone said. “But if I did it correctly and didn’t injure my body doing it, sure, absolutely.”

If White has anything to do with it, Cerrone, would stay put at lightweight. And with a win over Martins on Saturday, the UFC boss doesn’t see him making any moves – even if those weight-class changes have become a regular thing in the UFC.

“That kid’s fighting on FOX on Saturday night,” White told USA TODAY Sports. “He wins that fight, he’s not moving down. There’s no way that’s going to happen. Plus, if he was going to move down in weight, he’d move down to fight one of the top 10 guys.”

Right now, despite his win, and three victories in his past four fights, Miller is not one of those top 10, though he’s not far off.

Instead, Cerrone will fight an opponent on Saturday he’s never seen, and it stands to reason that regardless of weight class, he’d take the same approach.

“I don’t care. Just give me the date. That’s all I need. The opponent doesn’t matter to me,” he said.

For the latest on UFC on FOX 10, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.