Brendan Schaub explains why ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone is returning from retirement, potential struggles he might face

Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone seemed serious when he announced his retirement from fighting back in 2022 but less than three years later, he’s already planning a comeback.

The 41-year-old UFC Hall of Famer announced plans to return to action with hopes of breaking a few more records and hitting 50 fights under the UFC family umbrella (combined bouts between UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, PRIDE, etc). Just a day after Cerrone announced his plans, former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub chatted with him about the decision to come out of retirement and fight again.

“I literally just talked to ‘Cowboy’ before I came in here because we both do off-road racing and me and him were talking about some race stuff,” Schaub told MMA Fighting. “I mentioned, I said ‘coming back, huh?’ and he just started laughing.

“‘Cowboy’s a different animal where I would assume the UFC gives him proper matchups. Like don’t toss him in there with these killers. He’s a legend, he’s earned that.”

It’s been a decade since Schaub last competed but he understands that temptation to fight again because the competitive nature of athletes at that level never expires.

Of course, there are numerous reasons why it’s so hard to give up the sport but Schaub knows for many fighters it comes down to a financial decision. That’s not the case for “Cowboy,” however, which made Schaub initially question the decision to return to the UFC until he heard Cerrone’s sheer excitement and enthusiasm about fighting again.

“I love ‘Cowboy’ — this is how crazy his ass is: ‘Cowboy’ has a very successful career outside the octagon,” Schaub said. “The only reason most of these guys go back is doing it because they’re chasing that dragon, they want the fame, they want the eyeballs, they want the competition, they want the money. ‘Cowboy’ doesn’t need any of that. That’s how much he loves fighting. He goes ‘I just want to break that 50/50 club, 50 fights, all time-finisher, all that stuff.’ Kudos to him.

“I brought it up to talk him out of it, by the end [of the conversation] I’m like hell yeah! I can’t wait. ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone’s back!”

It’s no surprise that Cerrone is an adrenaline junkie — he famously engaged in all sorts of extreme sports even close to some of his biggest fights — but Schaub assumed his new career racing cars would scratch that itch for him.

It turns out nothing can replace fighting for Cerrone, which is ultimately the main reason he’s coming back.

“I’m just different,” Schaub said. “Don’t get me wrong, there’s some things I miss about fighting. When you’re racing, I race UTV’s, I race Polaris ... ‘Cowboy’s doing big boy races. The Nitro Circus and he’s in trophy trucks and Class Ones, he’s doing big boy shit. It’s intense, it’s insane. We’re talking about 800 horsepower trucks, million dollar trucks.

“If that’s not getting your rocks off, you’ve got problems. We all have our problems. But it’s just not enough for ‘Cowboy.’”

As much as he’s going to support Cerrone in his comeback effort, Schaub knows there’s still a lot of mountains he needs to climb before he’s ready to compete with the best of the best in the UFC again.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle is Cerrone’s admitted use of performance enhancing drugs since retiring because none of that is illegal when he’s not fighting in the UFC.

That changes once Cerrone officially notifies the organization of his plans to return to the octagon, which means he has to re-enter the UFC’s anti-doping program that requires at least six months of clean tests before an athlete can compete again.

“What he’s doing because I’m on TRT (testosterone replacement therapy), ‘Cowboy’s on TRT clearly and peptides, whatever,” Schaub said. “I said ‘dude, I don’t think people realize what you’re doing — it’s hard enough to be out of the game and then get back into it. When you’re on peptides and TRT for years and you’ve got to get off of it, piss clean for six months straight, you’re already against the odds here.’ I don’t think people realize his body’s going to change completely.

“Remember when USADA came in the UFC and it’s like ‘my favorite fighter looks very different.’ It’s going to be like that but on steroids, no pun intended. What he’s doing is against all the odds. It’s hard enough if he just was doing his own thing and came back but when you’re feeling that good taking this stuff and your hormones are good and you’ve got to get completely off of it, that’s a tough road.”

Obviously Schaub wants to see Cerrone succeed now that it’s clear he’s coming back but more than anything, he hopes the UFC treats him right.

That’s not about monetary compensation but rather the level of competition that the UFC plans to throw at him because Schaub doesn’t necessarily need to see Cerrone going up against a string of young, hungry killers looking to make a name off him.

“I hope they match him up right,” Schaub said. “If they announce his fight and he’s fighting some killer, we’ll know what they think of him. But Dana [White] loves ‘Cowboy.’

“For ‘Cowboy,’ too, what’s different, I was discussing this with him when I was in my truck, the amount of eyeballs he’s going to bring to everything he’s doing — his CanAm racing and his off-road racing, his trophy truck racing, all the stuff he’s doing and Dana’s Nitro [Circus] — that just adds value to ‘Cowboy.’ He’s a little different and he does have his wits about him. I just hope they match him up accordingly.”