Henry Cejudo says he will not return to UFC unless he receives a sizeable pay grade.
The former UFC dual champion who retired back at UFC 249 following a successful Bantamweight title defense against Dominick Cruz, has been teasing a comeback to the sport ever since he left.
Rumors of the king of cringe re-entering the USADA testing pool surfaced late last year but were ultimately shut down by Cejudo himself, who said he will not return unless he is paid substantially.
To make his point, he took a couple of shots at UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and Jorge Masvidal, who have both recently signed new, lucrative contracts.
“Money talks, bullsh*t walks, and I’m not walking,” Cejudo said in an interview with the Underground. “I’m not signing up to USADA until I really get what I deserve. They are going to give Israel Adesanya, who doesn’t know how to do a damn moonwalk, can’t win a second belt, can’t defend a takedown to save his life. Or Jorge Masvidal, they are going to give him money? He’s got 17 losses in his career, dude, they can’t give ‘Triple C’ some of that cash?”
Although he never mentioned exactly how much he’s been asking for, Cejudo, who has been coaching title contenders at Fight Ready, most notably Zhang Weili and Jiri Prochazka, said he is willing to put his coaching career and other duties aside to compete again.
“Yeah Khabib just got inducted into the Hall of Fame, but not even his credentials match up to mine. I got another belt on top of that, and on top of that, I have an Olympic gold medal. I prefer that over 29-0 any day, and I love Khabib.
“The reason why I’m saying this is because it’s different, you know what I mean I guess I’m not that company guy. I’m that freakin’ black sheep that’s just trying to make money. I’m not saying to start a union here. What I’m saying is pay me. I want that green. I deserve that damn green. Every man for himself, and that’s the way I see it.” (Transcribed by MMA Junkie)