Donald Cerrone on breaking down in tears, last word on Winkeljohn

DENVER – Backstage at the Pepsi Center, Donald Cerrone was eating his words.

He’d scoffed when people had asked him all week whether fatherhood had changed him. “What a cliche,” he thought.

Then, with moments to go before his walkout, he saw a picture of his newborn son in a cowboy outfit, and he started crying.

“I’ve never felt anything like that in my life,” Cerrone (34-11 MMA, 21-8 UFC) told reporters backstage, including MMAjunkie, after his record-setting submission of Mike Perry (12-4 MMA, 5-4 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 139 in Denver. “And then when I walked out and I kissed him right before I went into the cage, it didn’t matter what Perry had. No. I’m coming.”

Celebrating after the first-round victory, Cerrone didn’t call his grandmother into the cage like every previous fight. He ordered officials to retrieve his son.

“First fight as a father,” he said. “It was unbelievable, for sure.”

Although the nerves that accompanied his career were still there, Cerrone managed to enjoy himself in a way he never had before. And he felt driven by a purpose he’d never before had. Even before he got to the arena, he was doing things a little differently.

“It’s crazy – moving away from (Mike) Winkeljohn’s gym at (Jackson Wink MMA Academy), we actually had a gameplan coming into a fight,” he said. “I’ve never really had a gameplan.”

The strategy, to allow Perry to tire himself out early and then surge, worked perfectly. And with that came the bragging rights of getting the last word on a drama with Winkeljohn that was raised by the Perry fight.

“My grandma went and told Winkeljohn, ‘You should have bet on the dinosaur,’” Cerrone said. “He knows what he did. It’s all over money, too. That’s the worst part.

“Looks like he’s still not getting paid, is he?”

Cerrone, of course, is getting compensated in a variety of ways. And, as per usual, he’ll likely be back sooner rather than later. The UFC already has proposed an opponent at lightweight, the division he’s now recommitted to for a title shot. An opponent is already in the works, though he wouldn’t specify who.

“It’s very exciting,” he said. “The guy is very exciting. You’ll like it.”

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 139, check out the UFC Events section of the site.