Henry Cejudo wants nothing less than to make history one more time.
Following the victory of Alexander Volkanovski, featherweight champion, over Chan Sung Jung (main event UFC 273), Ali Abdelaziz, Cejudo’s manager announced that Cejudo will be re-entering USADA’s testing pool in an effort to return to competition.
Cejudo, a former champion at bantamweight and flyweight, confirmed the news Monday along with a link to an interview with The Schmo in which he expressed his confidence in being able to capture another title at 145 pounds.
” “Like I said before, I believe if I had the chance to fight Zombie it would be an entirely different fight,” Cejudo stated. “I am confident that I will beat Alexander Volkanovski if I fight him. I’m not going to kill him. It’s about beating him. Outsmarting him, outwitting him. He still believes in me. I believe I have the skill, speed, wrestling, IQ, experience, and grit necessary to challenge him.
“But it’s up to you fans. Dana White is responsible for this. I’m all about it, they know I’m about it, I’ve said it before if me and Alexander can make a payday off of this I could become the first triple champ or he could shut up the cringe. This will be an enjoyable event for everyone. I know everybody will tune in to watch. What’s the matter Dana ?”
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Cejudo fought his last fight at UFC 249 May 2020,, where he defended the bantamweight championship against Dominick Cruz. He immediately announced his retirement, apparently to end a career in combat sports that saw him win two UFC titles as well as an Olympic gold medal for wrestling.
Even in retirement, Cejudo has kept his name in the conversation with an active presence on social media and in interviews, and as a coach with the Fight Ready team. He told The Schmo that he would also be interested in fighting T.J. Dillashaw — the man he defended the flyweight title against in January 2019 — if Dillashaw takes the bantamweight title from Aljamain Sterling.
However, Volkanovski remains a priority.
“I know I could beat those dudes, I really do,” Cejudo said. “This isn’t for me to prove it to myself, this is for me to — it sounds weird, but it’s for me to prove it to the world because I know what I’m capable of and typically it’s the other way around, but I mean that. Because I’d be an underdog [against Volkanovski],, especially considering what he does with fighters who are legitimate and of high quality.
” I don’t fear this dude. I’ve been the underdog so many times that this dude would just be my greatest victory in mixed martial arts because I know that I can beat him.”
Cejudo said that he considers Volkanovski to be No. 2 in the pound-for-pound rankings, behind Kamaru Usman, giving him the edge over fighters like Israel Adesanya and Francis Ngannou because Volkanovski has yet to be defeated inside the octagon.
He also agreed that Volkanovski may have surpassed Max Holloway and Jose Aldo for the title of greatest featherweight of all time, though he still sees a path to victory should they be matched up.
“He has proven it,” Cejudo stated. “I would always kind of go Aldo but he’s beaten Aldo, he’s beaten Holloway twice, he’s beaten The Korean Zombie, he’s beaten [Brian] Ortega. He might be the best or he might be a win away from being better than all of them.”
” I will add that Alexander Volkanovski is great,” Cejudo said. I don’t mean to offend you guys. I just see those pieces to the puzzle that people are not talking about. It’s kind of what I said earlier, a few days ago, what I said about Sterling. Sterling is still my favorite. If Sterling’s entries could get better he’s gonna be able to take this dude down and make him fight his B-side and that’s exactly what happened. So it all comes down to tactics.”
