Donald Cerrone has admitted he looked for a way to quit during his fight with Conor McGregor.
Cerrone was stopped in the first round of McGregor's comeback fight in 2020 - the Irishman's only win in the cage since he beat Eddie Alvarez in 2015. McGregor dominated from the opening bell and went on to drop and stop Cerrone after just 40 seconds.
Cerrone has lost two and drawn one of this three fights since with the latter subsequently changed to a no-contest after Niko Price tested positive for marijuana. McGregor lost twice to Dustin Poirier last year and is currently recovering from a broken leg.
Cerrone will return to action against Joe Lauzon at UFC 274 this weekend and admitted he froze on the biggest night of his life. "I've worked my whole life to be a UFC fighter and be in front of hundreds of thousands of people, in the fight against Conor McGregor," he said.
"The biggest one, millions of people watching my moment and I didn't want to be there. I can't answer any clearer, that was such a weird thing. I just wanted to get out of there and when Conor gave me a door I took it, it's that easy, and I have to live with that every day."
Cerrone has not won any of his last six fights and is nearing the end of a career which has spanned 16 years. And the 39-year-old insists he has nothing left to prove.
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“Let’s do everything that I need to do to be successful, so there’s no questions in my mind," he added. "Let’s do what I needed to do to get to the UFC back in the day/ Let’s f*****g earn your keep, let’s be here, let everybody know you f***ing belong here that you aren’t here on just a wimp.
"Then I also look at the flip coin of that and also say, I have nothing else to prove. I’ve set records. I’ve been here, I’ve stayed here, I’ve done what I needed to do. I look at myself in the mirror, I’m here for legacy now."
