Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Flyweight kingpin, Henry Cejudo, will jump up 10 pounds to challenge vicious kickboxer, Marlon Moraes, for the vacant Bantamweight strap this Saturday (June 8, 2019) at UFC 238 from inside United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
It seems like a very long time ago now that Cejudo lost consecutive fights in 2016, defeats which spurred significant improvement from the Olympian. Cejudo’s current streak is remarkable, as he pretty effortlessly knocked off a pair of Flyweight contenders to earn his second shot, battled an all-time great in “Mighty Mouse” to a close decision win, and then knocked off a juiced up T.J. Dillashaw in just 32 seconds. At 32 years of age, Cejudo seems in his prime and on a serious roll. He takes on another serious challenge this weekend, perhaps the most vicious knockout artist of the lower weight classes.
Let’s take a closer look at Cejudo’s skill set:
Striking
The mix of boxing and karate has proven an increasingly effective and popular style of striking over the last few years, and Cejudo absolutely has developed into that mold. Early in his career, Cejudo’s previous boxing experience colored most of his exchanges on the feet, whereas Cejudo now operates from a wider stance and kicks more often.
Luckily, his punches have only grown crisper. In this week’s technique highlight, we’ll discuss the improvement of Cejudo’s cross, as well as some overall mechanics on the punch itself.
One of the most interesting and circumstantial developments about Cejudo’s recent success on the feet is that each of his previous five opponents were either Southpaws or switch-stance athletes. In general, fighters who like this boxing/karate mix tend to prefer open stance match ups between foes in opposite stances. Distance management becomes even more important, as the powerful cross and power kick of each man is quite easy to land.
Against these opposite stance foes, Cejudo very smartly tends to stick to that aforementioned cross and kick. If you have ESPN+ and the patience to navigate the website to find his title defense opposite Dillashaw, that bout is worth a 30-second rewatch. Dillashaw was only standing for about 20 seconds before getting dropped and subsequently smashed, but in that time, Cejudo threw nothing except for crisp crosses and right round kicks (GIF).
In battles of opposite stances, nothing is truly needed aside from a quick cross, hard kick, and good feints. Cejudo understands this well.
Another great example and the overall most dominant kickboxing performance of Cejudo’s career came against Wilson Reis, a shorter Southpaw forced to try to close the distance. It was a terrible night for Reis, who ran into Cejudo’s loaded counter right hand repeatedly (GIF). At distance, Cejudo punished Reis’ mid-section with the right kick often. Cejudo also mixed in level change feints to set up both strikes and keep Reis thoroughly confused (GIF).
As for actual habits rather than individual performances, Cejudo has a few strategies that are employed pretty consistently regardless of opponent. For one, that right hand being constantly loaded allows Cejudo to effectively spring forward with a right hand lead often. The way Cejudo crouches into the punch means he can transition into a shot easily — or trick his foe into thinking the cross was a shot in the first place — but it did also allow Johnson to counter with some hard knees to the body.
Another frequent habit of Cejudo is the use of body-head combinations (GIF). His body shots are again aided by the threat of his wrestling, but it’s also common to see Cejudo push himself into a very close range after covering distance with his right hand — a range he can easily target the mid-section. In a great example of both traits, Cejudo dropped Benavidez in the opening minute of their fight by closing the distance with a lead right, punching at the mid-section, then coming up high with a hard hook (GIF).
Though Johnson was the superior kickboxer even in the rematch, Cejudo made the exchanges close enough that his takedowns were enough to swing the round. In that regard, perhaps the most important habit of Cejudo was to at least try to counter a majority of the kicks thrown at him. It’s very difficult to check kicks from a Karate-oriented stance, and Cejudo paid the price for that stylistic choice. However, Cejudo also got his own licks in by lunging forward with punches while Johnson was still on one leg. He missed a lot of those punches, but some of them landed with real power, and overall it forced Johnson to kick less frequently.
Wrestling
In 2008, Cejudo became the youngest American to ever score a gold medal in Olympic freestyle wrestling. He’s quite arguably the most decorated wrestler in UFC, and while early on he struggled to truly take advantages of that background in the cage, that tide has shifted in the last two years.
The inside trip is the most standout technique in Cejudo’s arsenal (breakdown here). As his opponent looks to back their way out of the clinch or push the hips back to avoid the double leg shot, Cejudo will turn a corner and yank his foe over his inside trip (GIF). Since his foe is forced to respect Cejudo’s shot, the inside trip really sets itself up.
The Olympian possesses a wealth of wrestling technique. Every once in a while, he’ll flash a transition or finish that he’s yet to use inside the Octagon and do it perfectly, better than another fighter who does it all the time. Cejudo is that caliber of wrestler.
Therefore, it’s a lot more helpful to pick and explain individual takedowns than look for too many trends, because otherwise there’s a lot of variety. For example, Cejudo repeatedly targeted Sergio Pettis’ lead leg as a result of Pettis’ Southpaw stance. Since the lead leg was close, Cejudo was easily able to latch onto it when shooting. Once his hands were clasped, Cejudo would dump his foe to the mat, elevate the leg, or transition to a double-leg and cut the corner.
In the rematch with Johnson, Cejudo landed a great finish to the single leg as his foe tried to hand-fight and kick the trapped leg out of his grasp. Cejudo barely had the ankle trapped at this point — meaning a conventional dump and most transitions were no longer options — but he managed to club Johnson off-balance with a single-collar tie while elevating the trapped leg a bit. More than a brilliant technical move, it was a moment of opportunism, enough to get Johnson to stumble to the mat and give up top position.
Aside from his inside trips from the clinch, Cejudo has shown plenty of other tricks from that position. In the rematch with Johnson, Cejudo was able to hike up an underhook and spin to the back, known as a throw-by in wrestling but immensely difficult to do to a world-class competitor like Johnson. In general, Cejudo does a great job at mixing his mat returns from that back clinch, transitioning between attempts to drag foes down, lift and return, or trip out a leg.
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Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Cejudo has yet to score a submission in his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) career nor can I remember him really attempting one. Conversely, Cejudo has never really been threatened by a submission either, and he’s spent plenty of time on the mat with elite grapplers. Cejudo’s grappling is wrestling with a few guard passes added in, and while thus far that has limited his offensive opportunities on the mat, his results cannot be denied, either.
Conclusion
Cejudo is really damn hot right now, fresh off two excellent performances against some of the best to ever compete in the lightest weight classes. Moraes has brutalized three straight elite opponents with apparent ease. It’s really the best fight available sub-155 pounds, but for Cejudo, it’s a chance to build impressively upon an already historic run.
Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.