Last week, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone was part of the group that promised to change the sport of MMA. What would eventually be announced was the creation of a third MMA fighters’ union called the Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association (MMAAA)—a group that featured other prominent names like former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and former Bellator CEO Bjork Rebney. On Wednesday, Cerrone, who is scheduled to fight Matt Brown at UFC 206 on Saturday, clarified his role with MMAAA.
“As far as the association goes, man, Georges and Tim [Kennedy] called me and asked to be part of it. I didn’t know I was sitting on a board,” Donald Cerrone told reporters following the UFC 206 open workouts. “That kind of took me by surprise, sitting there like, ‘oh wow.’ I spoke to Dana [White] today on the phone. He’s coming to town and we’re going out to dinner and talk. There’s a lot of things I think this sport needs, you know, retirement pension, health care, things I think we need.”
Donald Cerrone went on to clarify that he was merely there to express what he felt was needed by the fighters in the sport and not to spearhead any sort of movement. He also admitted that he should have touched base with UFC President Dana White before lining himself with MMAAA and gave a glimpse of what White and him spoke about during their brief phone conversation.
“He said, listen kid, you can do anything you want. We have a good relationship him and I, and he’s right, I probably should have called him and said, ‘hey man, I’m going to do this,’ instead of getting backhanded in the face,” Donald Cerrone said.
Last Wednesday, Donald Cerrone was part of the group that announced the formation of MMAAA along with Georges St-Pierre, Tim Kennedy, former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw.
Source: MMAFighting.com
