It was a short and productive night of work for Donald Cerrone. Seventy-six seconds and $120,000 later, his UFC 150 experience was over with a bang. But after knocking out Melvin Guillard, the "Cowboy" was already preparing to rustle up his next opponent. Continuing a public campaign, Cerrone reiterated his desire to fight Anthony Pettis.
And now he's got the vote of an influential decision-maker, because it appears Dana White's on board to make it happen.
At the event's post-fight press conference, the UFC president was asked about the possibility, and he responded positively.
"I like it," he said. "I think it’s a great idea."
"Let's sign it," Cerrone interjected. "It's a date."
Cerrone first called out Pettis as an opponent back in May with the hope of fighting him at UFC 150, but "Showtime" was unable to even consider taking the fight after undergoing shoulder surgery.
Cerrone (19-4, 1 no contest) hasn't let up on Pettis in the weeks leading up to UFC 150. Just two days ago, while making final preparations to fight Guillard, Pettis was still on his mind.
""I've been trying to fight Anthony for a while now and every time I suggest it his manager comes back and says, 'well, we're not ready,' " Cerrone said then. "'Maybe we'll fight somebody else right now.' There's always an excuse.
"He wants to just sit and hide behind his win over Ben [Henderson] and keep riding that gravy train," he continued. "But there are fighters who want to fight him and prove that he's all talk."
Cerrone may soon get that opportunity; Pettis is supposed to be ready to fight around September.
That should be enough notice for the UFC to put together a Pettis-Cerrone fight by the end of 2012.
That would be a welcome development for Cerrone, who even promised to keep quiet until the fight actually happened, as long as it gets put together.
"I’ve got to try and control my emotion," he said about the prospect of fighting Pettis. "When I fight out of emotion it doesn’t add up too well. So I’m going to just stay away from all the crap talking. The fight’s going to be signed so sign, train hard, and I’ll see you when I see you. Other than that, we don’t need to talk about it, right?"