A fight between Henry Cejudo and Vasyl Lomachenko? Really?
Former UFC veteran Artem Lobov’s bare-knuckle boxing win over Paulie Malignaggi has clearly sprung some inspiration into UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo, as he has teased a fight with boxing’s Vasyl Lomachenko.
It comes just a day after Lobov defeated former two-time boxing champion Malignaggi in the main event of BKFC 6. Whilst it’s not entirely clear whether Cejudo is teasing a boxing or MMA fight with Lomachenko, he posed the question on his Twitter account.
here’s an example of how it will be! pic.twitter.com/l7ifA8Pxc7
— LOMA (@VasylLomachenko) June 23, 2019
Cejudo (15-2) recently defeated Marlon Moraes earlier this month to win the vacant UFC bantamweight title. Before that, the Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling knocked out T.J. Dillashaw in just 32-seconds to defend his UFC flyweight title. A shoulder injury from his fight with Moraes will keep him out until 2020.
It didn’t take long for the WBA and WBO lightweight champion Lomachenko to reply to Cejudo’s tweet. Responding with a GIF indicating that it would be an easy night for the Ukrainian. Cejudo then shot back by referencing Lomachenko’s lone pro loss to Mexico’s Orlando Salido.
.@VasylLomachenko we all know what happened the last time you fought a Mexican warrior. Whose hand got raised again? #bendtheknee pic.twitter.com/K3U91nJDsS
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) June 23, 2019
Whilst a fight between Cejudo and Lomachenko seems entirely unlikely to happen, a crossover between boxing and MMA has happened before. Heavyweight boxer James Toney most famously stepped foot in the octagon in 2010 and was easily submitted by Randy Couture. Meanwhile, UFC superstar Conor McGregor fought Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match in August 2017, losing by stoppage in the tenth round.