Former UFC bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo recently canceled his short-lived retirement after quickly realizing that a dozen fights under the UFC banner is not enough to carry him across the finish line.
That’s a select club and “Triple C” has yet to earn a membership.
Now that Cejudo has re-entered the USADA testing pool, promotion matchmakers will have to find the right time and place for the former flyweight to return. Cejudo insists his first fight back will be for the 135-pound strap, which is why he won’t make time for former bantamweight champion Petr Yan.
“Hey Henry Cejudo, you talked a lot when you were ‘retired,’” Yan wrote on Twitter. “Now it’s time to back it up. The truth is you retired the day I became No. 1 contender and unretired on the same day I ceased to be the champion. Now you are ducking me again only proving those facts.”
Yan lost his bantamweight title to Aljamain Sterling by way of disqualification at UFC 259 then failed to get it back when “Funk Master” squeaked by with a split decision victory in their UFC 273 rematch back in April.
“Only if you had the gold I would have loved to have buried you,” Cejudo fired back. “You should go back to Dagestan and learn more wrestling because you got outwrestled by a Division III All-American. That wouldn’t be smart of you taking an Olympic champ after that loss. And you lost to ALJOLAME twice. I’ll give you 20% off if you subscribe to my technique of the week. You know I’m getting the title shot next.”
As of this writing, nobody is getting the next title shot — including TJ Dillashaw — until Sterling and UFC execs work out their lingering contract issues.