Donald Cerrone Re-enters Drug Testing Pool, Targets UFC Comeback at Middleweight

The wheels are in motion for Donald Cerrone’s Ultimate Fighting Championship return.

During a recent appearance on The Pacman Jones Show, “Cowboy” revealed that he has re-entered the drug testing pool in homes of making a comeback to the Octagon by next summer. The UFC Hall of Famer initially announced his retirement following a second-round submission loss to Jim Miller at UFC 276 in July 2022. The Combat Sports Anti-Doping website shows that Cerrone has submitted to one test session thus far in 2024.

“I just re-entered the testing pool,” Cerrone said on the show. “I have to be six months clean. Probably June, July we will make the comeback. Coming back for two more. Just two more. I want 50 fights in the UFC [under the Zuffa umbrella]. I promised the wife no matter what happens, no matter the outcomes – two more and that’s it.”

While Cerrone has previously competed at lightweight and welterweight during his UFC tenure, he expects to fight in the middleweight division this time around.

“I think it’ll be at [185 pounds] is what I’m coming back at,” Cerrone said. “We’ll see my weight as I start to pick up my training.”

Cerrone’s return has been the subject of some controversy, as the 41-year-old BMF Ranch founder has openly admitted to receiving testosterone replacement therapy during his hiatus.

“When I retired, I told you I was getting my hair done and get on steroids,” Cerrone said in a video on Instagram this past October. “The No. 50 [under the Zuffa banner] has been sitting on my mind for a while. So, I’ve been working with Transcend for the last two years, taking TRT and a bunch of peptides. Now we got a protocol for all you people that, ‘Oh, what if you get on it, you can’t ever come off.’ Well, I now have to come off and piss clean, fight in a few months. So, watch this.”

“Cowboy” has 48 combined fights while competing for World Extreme Cagefighting and the UFC, a journey that began in 2007. The 41-year-old “Cowboy” is winless in his last seven UFC appearances dating back to June 2019. His most recent victory was a unanimous decision triumph against Al Iaquinta in the UFC Fight Night 151 headliner on May 4, 2019.

Before calling it a career, Cerrone was one of the UFC’s most popular athletes, renowned for his entertaining style and willingness to maintain an active fight schedule. He enjoyed success at both welterweight and lightweight, challenging for 155-pound gold in both the UFC and WEC. His record includes wins over the likes of Charles Oliveira, Jeremy Stephens, Melvin Guillard, Edson Barboza, Miller, Eddie Alvarez, Benson Henderson, Patrick Cote, Matt Brown, and Mike Perry. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2023.