Some UFC fighters do things the right way, others do things the wrong way. But Donald Cerrone has always done things “the Cowboy way.”

“My name is ‘Cowboy.’ It’s weird, (but) when I first came into the WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting), they started calling me Donald. Now, everyone calls me Cowboy again. But that’s been my name since I’ve been a kid,” Cerrone told The TSN MMA Show . “(It’s) just because I wear a hat and ride horses – I love the lifestyle – but that’s just my name. I was a wild kid. My parents used to call me Cowboy.”

Being Cowboy, with his carefree approach to life, has set him apart from other fighters. He will seemingly take any fight that the UFC brass offers him. This has led him to fight four or more times in a year five times during his seven-year UFC tenure, and he has no plans of slowing down despite previously saying that he would.

“Four,” said Cerrone, laughing, when asked how many times he planned to fight in 2018. “Who knows? If they call me and say they need me to fight next week, I will. I love it, I literally love my job.”

His ability to cowboy up has brought Cerrone great success in his UFC tenure, accruing roughly $770,000 in performance bonuses, sponsorships from big companies like Harley-Davidson, Monster Energy and Budweiser. He also has 19 UFC wins, the third most of any fighter in the promotion’s history. Using his cowboy moniker and living the cowboy lifestyle since the start of his career has done him wonders.

“I think I did a good job branding myself young in this sport. But other than that, those (other) young guys, you can’t just have one fight in the UFC and think, ‘Oh man, I’m going to sign a huge deal.’ It doesn’t work like that,” Cerrone said of his success in attracting sponsors. “Just like I can’t say, ‘I’m going to fight Floyd Mayweather and make $100 million.’ The opportunity isn’t there for me – you’ve got to take it when you can get it.”

However, a winless 2017 has shown Cerrone that doing things his way can have its downside. He has been fighting at welterweight despite having more success at lightweight because of how tough his weight cut is at 155 pounds.

“I’m 174 pounds right now – we had Mexican food for dinner last night. Whether I’m at 155 or 170, that’s kind of my weight. One hundred and seventy-five or 176, it’s hard to get above that and so I’m really small for 170, but it makes life a lot easier,” said Cerrone. “I don’t need to worry about any kind of diet or any kind of suffering during fight week, whereas 155 is terrible for me. If there was a 165 (pound) weight class, that would be it. But 155 is tough to make.”

Another decision that Cerrone has made during his career is to not study videotape of his opponent. Before his last fight against Darren Till, Cerrone told TSN that he didn’t know who Till was, nor did he plan on studying his film before their fight, which Cerrone subsequently lost by first-round knockout.

“I don’t like to go in there and maybe see him knock somebody out or a big head kick or maybe he has a good guillotine, something that’s going to make me dwell on that,” said Cerrone on why he chooses not to study film of his opponents. “I just don’t want to put any extra stress on me. It’s such a stressful week, such a stressful night. It’s like having one more thing that drives me crazy, so I just try to eliminate that and take it out”

One thing that Cerrone prides himself on is his “BMF Ranch” – his farm and training compound situated on the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico. That’s where he trains for his fights and also provides dorms for fighters who train with him. The compound has allowed him to take on a leadership role as he often accommodates fighters at no cost if they don’t have the means to pay boarding fees.

“I’ve always been kind of a leader for my whole life. My dad used to tell me, ‘Boy, if only you could use your powers for good instead of evil, you’d be such a great guy,’ ” said Cerrone, laughing. “When I was a kid, I would always lead people down the rabbit hole, the wrong way, so it’s good to see now that I’m doing positive things and I’m involved in my community and trying to help out and give back.”

This weekend, Cerrone will headline UFC Fight Night in Austin, Texas, where he faces Yancy Medeiros, another former lightweight, who has won three straight fights since moving up to welterweight. Cerrone will be his stiffest test to date.

Should Cerrone lose, it will be his fourth straight defeat and possibly result in a change of course for the fighter. Up until this losing streak, he had never lost two straight fights during his entire professional MMA career.

“I’ve trained hard for this, I love this sport. I love getting out there and doing what I do,” said Cerrone of his fight with Medeiros set for Sunday. “This is the hardest sport in the world to be excellent at, so there’s wins and there’s losses and, unfortunately, I’ve taken three losses and that sucks.

“But that doesn’t affect me in any way. I’m good to go.”