Henry Cejudo called out Urijah Faber. And now Faber’s calling out Cejudo. Does he have enough trooper points to get that fight?
Urijah Faber returned to action on Saturday night at UFC on ESPN+ 13 after a two and a half year break from competition. Any questions we had about his ability to hang with the next generation of bantamweights was quickly answered when “The California Kid” took out prospect Ricky Simon with an impressive first round knockout (watch the finish here).
Afterward Faber took the opportunity in front of his Sacramento to shoot for the stars, calling out current 125 and 135 pound champ Henry Cejudo. And while that may seem a bit presumptuous given the line of ranked and active fighters in front of him, but Urijah did make it clear that Cejudo called him out first.
”It’s funny, I think Henry Cejudo called me out a little bit ago,” he said during the post-fight interview with Michael Bisping. “And then I heard Dana said I was old. I know Dana White was old when he was 40, but i’m a young man. Dana was old when he was 28. Come on, Dana. Look at me!
”Henry, I remember 10 years ago when you challenged me to a fight as a friendly gesture, and I’m down to get in there and mix it up. There’s only one reason I do this and it’s to test myself against the best in the world … It’s a hairy situation out there, I gotta get in there now before it’s too late.”
It didn’t take long for Cejudo to respond to Faber.
Careful what you wish for my corn-rolled princess. You could be the next legend to bend the knee to Triple C. https://t.co/j5NcVrEoqz
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) July 14, 2019
”Careful what you wish for my corn-rolled princess,” he wrote on Twitter. “You could be the next legend to bend the knee to Triple C.”
Triple C a.k.a. ‘The Master Of Cringe.’ Calling them corn rolls is some bone apple tea business, man.
But with Cejudo on the sidelines until the end of 2019 at the absolute earliest following shoulder surgery, nobody is going to be next for the latest double champ any time soon.
During a post-event media scrum, Faber expanded on the call out and said it was all about winning that UFC championship belt.
”I left the sport after losing a decision to Dominick Cruz for the belt,” he said (video via MMA Junkie). “So when I think of doing anything it’s always with the belt and being the best in my mind. It’s the only thing I think about. I stepped in here and people are like, ‘Why would you take this fight this guy who is 15-1?’ and all this. I’m like, if I can’t beat this guy then it doesn’t matter anyway. That’s the way I looked at this.”
”And Dana knows I think like that, that’s why Dana loves me and knows I’m one of the troopers. And it’s one of the reasons why I’ve gotten such big opportunities because I’ll fight guys that doesn’t make sense for me. I’ve done it my entire career and then I’ll get those big opportunities. That’s it.”
As for whether Faber planned on staying active, he kept the possibility open (like a good trooper).
”Coming off a big win, you want to turn around and get back in there. But I’ll go talk to my family, talk to UFC brass, see what kind of opportunities are out there. They threw out some interesting fights for this one and just settled on Ricky Simon. But that’s a good way to make some cash. I’m also a business man and the margins in fighting are pretty good.”