Henry Cejudo made history Saturday night (June 8, 2019) by becoming Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) fourth champ-champ after defeating Marlon Moraes in the main event of UFC 238 in Chicago, Illinois (see it).
But “The Messenger” isn’t done just yet, as he says his plans of moving up to Featherweight to capture yet another division title aren’t a joke.
“Why not? Are you guys going to count me out again,” asked Cejudo on The Ariel Helwani MMA Show.
With former Lightweight champion Frankie Edgar lined up to face current 145-pound champion Max Holloway at UFC 240 on July 27, 2019, Cejudo says he’d love to face “The Answer” should he take down “Blessed.”
“The fight I would really want, and this has everything to do with competition; if Frankie Edgar wins this fight against Max Holloway that’s the fight I am interested in,” he said. With Frankie being one of the shorter fighters in the division, Cejudo says they size up against each other well and Edgar won’t have a huge size advantage over him.
“We had talked about it before, captain Eric mentioned it. I like his stature, I think the height seems very well, he is a wrestler. I think if he wins the fight against Max Holloway, then me and him can throw down,” he added while confirming he has no personal beef with “The Answer.”
“It’s nothing against Frankie, I just want to compete against the best. I know he took offense when I called him out with Marlon Moraes, I know he didn’t believe in me…but why not? Why can’t I win another belt. They have been telling me I can’t. They told me I was going to get knocked out by Marlon, they told me I’d get stopped by Demetrious Johnson, T.J. Dillashaw.”
For Cejudo — the self-proclaimed new face of UFC — winning a third title in as many divisions will put him in a class of his own and solidify his status as the top pound-for-pound best fighter in the world once and for all.
“The sky is the limit, I want to challenge my mind, body and soul. If he wins this fight and he wants to do it, let’s make it happen,” he concluded.
Whether or not Dana White and Co. actually allow Cejudo to challenge for one more strap is another story, as having three division titles held by one person could really upset every fighter competing in those weight classes.