Contrary to his earlier statement over the past week, Donald Cerrone is certainly not allowing Khabib Nurmagomedov get under his skin with his unique blend of trash talking. He may be bored with it, maybe even slightly frustrated, but he is confident that it won’t affect his gameplan and approach come fight night.
“It’s funny to me,” Cerrone said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I appreciate that he’s trying to build this fight up. I really do. But he’s not really saying anything, like, under the belt, trying to dig at me, piss me off. I’m not mad. It’s just like, enough, man. Everyday he’s coming at me. But it’s good. Mentally, I’m fine. I’m not worried at all.
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“I get people telling me that I’m scared of Khabib. That’s humorous to me as well. I’ve never been scared of an opponent in my life and I’ve tried to sign a contract to fight Khabib three times now, so if I was scared, I don’t know why I would try to sign a contract three times when no one else would.”
Cerrone has compiled a seven-fight win streak and is already 2-0 in 2015, with wins over Myles Jury and Benson Henderson just two weeks apart. Against Khabib, he faces an undefeated lightweight has been stuck on the sidelines nursing a knee injury since his last win back in April 2014. The victory came in the form of a unanimous decision against current champion Rafael dos Anjos. It marked the Dagestan native’s sixth straight win in the UFC, and extended his undefeated streak to an impressive 22-0.
However, Khabib kept himself busy by pestering both Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone whenever the opportunity arose. He even recently called Donald a “fake cowboy,” which became one of the most popular quotes of the week.
Nevertheless, Cerrone won’t give Khabib the satisfaction of an angry response.
“I knew he called me a fake cowboy and he’s this, whatever, Russian cowboy or whatever he said he was. That’s fine,” Cerrone responded on Monday. “It makes no difference to me. You’re trying to get a giant reaction out of me, but I don’t care. If he thinks he’s the real Russian cowboy, then good, I’m glad. I hope he trains really hard, chops wood, plays with bears, and shows up and fights. That’s all I can say.
“If it means pumping this fight up and getting the fans excited and an extra $50,000 for me, hell yeah. What do I need to do to do that? Let’s do that.
Transcription taken from MMAFighitng.com.
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