Henry Cejudo isn’t trying to go out on a loss.
The former two-division Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion ended his mixed martial arts (MMA) retirement when he challenged Aljamain Sterling for Bantamweight gold at UFC 288 in May 2023. Unfortunately for Cejudo, he came up short via a split decision before going on to suffer a unanimous decision loss to the upcoming title challenger, Merab Dvalishvili.
Cejudo, 37, has called for possible opponents since his Dvalishvili loss but has revealed he’s been dealing with a nagging injury. Thanks to the delay, the Bantamweight contention line has grown longer with Umar Nurmagomedov and Deiveson Figueiredo emerging as the likely top two next up. Therefore, don’t count out a Cejudo return to the first division he won UFC gold in.
“There could be a potential return at Flyweight,” Cejudo told MMA Junkie. “These are a lot of things I’m contemplating, potentially going back down. With the Bantamweight division getting hot and with the newcomers coming in, there’s been a lot of thought of me going back down and getting a fight with [Brandon] Moreno and winning the belt once again. There’s a lot of cool stuff. These are kind of things I really want to think about and really decide once I get home and once I’m injury-free. It’s just one little thing, but it’s a major thing. Because I’m going to be making a commitment to go out there and just do another run, do another run at these titles, and dedicate myself like I was before.”
Although he’s clearly toward the tail-end of his career after already retiring once, Cejudo doesn’t just want to take any fun fights or “legacy” match ups. The two-time Olympic gold medalist has always targeted proving he’s the very best in the world, and that hasn’t changed.
“I’m after gold now. I think if I do go down to 125 pounds and stay disciplined, I don’t think there’s anyone that can beat me,” Cejudo said. “Plus, I think there’s a fun fight with Brandon Moreno. He wanted to fight me at 135 and then he backed out like a little b*tch. Now, I think if I go down and I beat him in Mexico, in his own country, I think that could be a big-ass payday, too.
“I don’t want to be fighting people just to fight people,” he continued. “I want to get close to that belt. I think that’s the position that I fall in right now. … If it’s something that I do decide to do, the biggest thing for me is going to be discipline and taking myself back there once again. It is the weight cut. But at the same time, I’ve been thinking about it. It’s what I need. Maybe I need more discipline. Maybe I need… if the bar is set that high, that means I have to have more commitment on that side.”