Former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo has yet to book a fight since announcing he’s coming out of retirement by re-entering the USADA testing pool. One former foe believes he can make history one more time.
Ex flyweight king Demetrious John, who is one of the most admired fighters ever in MMA and was the first to stop Cejudo, claimed that the Olympic gold medalist has the “absolutely necessary” to defeat Aljamain Sterling and Alexander Volkanovski (current UFC champions at featherweight and bantamweight).
“He’s intelligent, he’s an athlete – I mean, he’s done something I haven’t done,” Johnson said of Cejudo in an interview with MMA Fighting. He’s won both the world flyweight championship and the bantamweight world championship, as well as defending the flyweight and bantamweight titles, so you know what?
” Typically, guys do this, Conor [McGregor] did it. But he has never been able to defend any of the belts. It was his first win, followed by [won] another, before he lost it all. That’s one thing I think Henry Cejudo has that people should show respect to the man. I respect him.”
“Mighty Mouse” twice fought Cejudo in the UFC, first winning by first-round knockout in 2016 and then dropping a close split decision a couple of years later. Johnson left the UFC in order to become a member of ONE Championship. He is scheduled to rematch Adriano Morais for the flyweight title on August 26, Singapore.
Johnson owns a house in Arizona and will train with Cejudo for two weeks ahead of ONE 161.
As for Cejudo’s chances against Sterling, who recently defended his 125-pound title against Petr Yan, Johnson believes the ex-champ’s chances are better in a hypothetical match-up with Volkanovski. He said that Cejudo will need to eat a stricter diet in order to gain 135 weight.
” If he were to face Aljamain Silver, I believe he would pose a lot problems because one, his wrestling skills are legitimate, his hands and Henry Cejudo is a good fighter,” Johnson stated. “Like, he’ll go out there and he’s gonna push the pace and try to win the fight. Obviously, right now Henry Cejudo’s got that dad bod, so he’s gonna have to shred all that baby weight, and I’m sure he can do it. It’s all about does the athlete want to do it, in my opinion.
” I believe [fighting for the featherweight title] will be more difficult because Volkanovski, who is larger, is much more active than Volkanovski. And I think the weight discrepancy is going to be there for Volkanovski, right? Are you sure Henry Cejudo is the right man to defeat Volkanovski because of his talent, skillsets and mindset? Yes, this is a fight. But Volkanovski has always been involved in fighting dangerous fighters. Two times he fought Max Holloway .”
Volkanovski is riding an incredible 21-fight winning streak that includes victims like Jose Aldo, Chad Mendes, Brian Ortega and “The Korean Zombie” – a flawless 11-fight run under the UFC banner since 2016.
“And Volkanovski has a great track record of sticking to the plan and actually executing it, Johnson stated. “That’s one of the things I’ve noticed about him. When he’s fought Chad Mendes, and he’s fought the guys in the past, you saw the grit, you saw the tough, you saw the rugby, you saw the athlete come out in it. But now, when you see him fight, when he fought Max Holloway both times and when he fought Brian Ortega and when he just fought ‘Korean Zombie,’ you saw an athlete also become a martial artist and also sticking to executing a perfect gameplan.
“That’s what I believe Henry Cejudo will have to fight for. I believe he’s going be fighting an almost identical version of himself .”
