Michael Bisping doesn’t like Henry Cejudo’s chances against Alexander Volkanovski.
UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping thinks Henry Cejudo is punching above his weight against Alexander Volkanovski. Literally.
‘The Count’ thinks ‘Triple C’ is too small to challenge Volkanovski at featherweight and advised the former UFC two-division champion to fight at his ‘optimal weight’ of 135 pounds.
“Yes, great, dream big, the problem is you aren’t big,” Bisping said of Cejudo on his YouTube channel (h/t MMA Junkie). “You’re not big enough to fight Alexander Volkanovski, I don’t believe so. You were a 125-er for a reason, you became the champion there. You stepped up to 135, that’s only a 10 pound increase. Stepping up to 45, that’s a 20 pound increase (and) when you’re a shorter guy that’s a large percent of your body weight and we saw a picture of him recently looking a little chubby, a little out of shape. Yes, he can get heavy, he can probably get up to 160, who knows? even heavier, but is that your optimal weight.”
“There’s a reason why he picked 125, there’s a reason why he went to 35. Making 125 was probably very hard, 35 was probably his natural weight (but) 45, things start to get out of the desired weight, out of the optimal point, where you’re carrying extra weight which is gonna slow you down which is ultimately gonna make you weaker. In the short term make you stronger, make you heavier but as the fight progresses and you’re getting tired and you’re carrying all that extra weight around your mid section and what not, that becomes a pain in the ass.”
Cejudo hasn’t fought in almost two years, but the Olympic gold medalist believes he is destined to win a third UFC title and become the promotion’s first-ever three-division champion. ‘The Messenger’ recently re-entered USADA’s drug-testing pool and is expected to return to the Octagon later this year, but Bisping thinks he desperately needs to rethink his plans.
“Alexander Volkanovski is the man,” Bisping said. “He’s beaten Max Holloway twice, took out ‘Korean Zombie’ in style, made it look easy. Prior to that Brian Ortega, what a fight, what a performance. The man’s incredible. Volkanovski has a record of 23-1, I don’t think Henry Cejudo would be the guy.”
Cejudo isn’t currently ranked but he was formerly considered one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in the sport.