COWBOY & THE RETIREMENT QUESTION!!!

Tonight one of the most popular fighters in the business was stopped in the first round bringing his most recent bout totals to 0-5-1 in his last 6 fights. Donald Cerrone, Known to the UFC world as “The Cowboy” (and he earned that by submitting the other cowboy) is pulling 38 years old and certainly isn’t getting any faster in the octagon. 4 times in his last 6 he’s been stopped (in 46 seconds to Conor McGregor, after round 2 to Tony Ferguson and again in the first by Justin Gaethje). Like Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes and many other's before him the time has come where all the message boards and know-it-all’s on twitter are calling him the Cowboy to hang up the gloves and ride off into retirement. But what do they know?
Who is to say when a fighter is to call it a day? A guy like Chuck Liddell who was a heavy puncher w/ a solid chin getting viciously KO’ed time and time again it seemed pretty obvious that his chin was gone and he could find himself doing permanent damage if he were to continue fighting. BUT…. The argument from their side is always the same “I just got caught” and “I was doing well until I wasn’t”. To be fair in Chuck’s final fight against Rich Franklin the fight could have easily gone the other way w/ Franklin getting put face down on the canvas. The same could even be said for his bouts w/ Shogun Rua and Rashad Evans but the reality is he was taking unnecessary damage and getting put out cold consistently. But who made him say “I’m done”? Chuck said it was time, that’s who. Dana White and his coaches likely played a factor in the decision as they all expressed concern for the aging former champion. He would make a crucial mistake in coming out of retirement to fight Tito Ortiz in bout for Oscar Dela Hoya’s “Golden Boy Promotions”. In that bout we saw just how far the might had fallen and Chuck was barely a shell of himself.
Back to the Cowboy and his journey. Is it me? Should he (wicked pun to follow) ride his Horse off into the sunset and hang up his gloves? He’s clearly got absolutely nothing to prove as he’s tied for most UFC Fights w/ 37, most finishes in UFC history w/ 16 and most wins in UFC history w/ 23 and that’s just big ones. Its been 6 years since his best run that would consist of 8 wins in a row and culminate in an unsuccessful light weight title bout against Rafeal Dos Anjos. Since then he’s 8-9-1 , moving between Lightweight and welterweight divisions. In those bouts he’s been finished 6 times. That’s roughly once a year but the hits have been more recently than not. So how’s his performances been???
He lost decisions to former champions Anthony Pettis and Robbie Lawler and dropped one to top 5 contender Leon Edwards. Until last night here’s the list of those who have finished him: Jorge Masvidal, Darren Till, Conor McGregor, Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje. Each guy has either held a belt or contended for one. He took a round against Tony and you could say he was looking ok w/ Justin. The others though it did seem he was a step behind and that showed more last night against relative newcomer Alex Morono. He looked a bit slow, hesitant and not like the Cowboy we all came to know and love. But does that mean he needs to walk away??
The major thing that drives those around a fighter to suggest they retire is concern for the athletes well being. Brain damage is real in combat sports such as MMA and Boxing. Putting an aging combatant in there w/ someone who could really turn the lights out is a very dangerous prospect. Has Cerrone taken some damage? yes, a good bit and that’s not just the fights he was unable to reach the final bell. The Robbie Lawler bout saw him get hit for 15 minutes by one of the hardest hitting welterweights to ever grace the octagon. So w/ regards to damage and performance is it time for Cowboy to say “goodbye”? It wouldn’t hurt the man to not get hit again. There’s one factor that we have not considered and this is the one that is always overlooked.
Is Cowboy ready to never enter the Octagon again? Would he brush health and well being aside to continue doing the thing he loves and also the thing he’s been doing for over 16 years. The thing that has completely defined the man, the athlete and put him on the map. The thing that has given him so much, including security, a living and a will to compete. Is he ready to let that go? Was Chuck ready to let that go? Is any athlete ever really ready to let that go? The answer is likely no. Can he still compete at the highest level against top 10 guys? Its unlikely but I would be willing to bet he thinks he can and w/ that, you have your dilemma. When a fighter says “I’m not able to compete at the highest level anymore” and can admit that to themselves is when the conversation can open. Then comes the question, can you compete against any of these young guys and gals? If the answer is probably not then retirement is pretty much done. But you got these guys that say “dammit, I just got caught I can still go w/ these guys”. That is a hard person to convince to say “it’s over”. Even if they are being delusional it doesn’t matter, its their life and their career and they will remind you of that 100 times during that talk.
Say you have a fighter that’s just getting slaughtered time after time and the man or woman is just to stubborn for their own good. What do you do? As a company you could cut him. But what’s that solve? That takes the responsibility away from you and that’s it because there will always be a company out there ready to sign a guy and fight him until he’s brain dead because its all about money in the long run. As a trainer or coach you could tell them you refuse to train them but that’s going to result in the fighter doing it on his own. All you can do is give them your best reasons as to why they should call it quits, its up to them. Its always been up to them and it always will be up to them. The only chance you’d have is if the fighter is bad enough that the commission won’t allow them to fight. At that point its sadly to late though.
So the point of this was to see when its time to call it quits, right? Did I answer that for you? No? I didn’t answer it for me either and there’s a reason for that. There is never “A Time” to call it quits. There are so many factors, situations and different circumstances that its clearly different for everyone. So for Cowboy, what’s the final prognosis? The Cowboy doesn’t think its time just yet and he feels that when it is “Time” he’ll know before that final bout and call it is last one. This is likely the way its going to be because if we’ve learned anything its this: It’s Time when the fighter say’s its time. There’s not a damn thing you can do about that.