Former two-division champion, Henry Cejudo has admitted that if he fails in his next attempt to land the undisputed bantamweight crown for the second time ahead of his comeback at UFC 298 – he will likely hang up his glimmering gloves once again.
Cejudo, the current number three ranked bantamweight contender, former divisional champion and prior flyweight best, has been sidelined since he headlined UFC 288 back in May of last year, dropping a split decision loss to former undisputed titleholder, Aljamain Sterling in New Jersey.
And making his return to competition this weekend in a high-profile main card fight at UFC 298 in Anaheim, Cejudo – an Olympic gold medal winner to boot, takes on surging Georgian contender, Merab Dvalishvili in a potential championship eliminator at the bantamweight limit.
Henry Cejudo weighs up retirement after UFC 298
With an eye firmly placed on the outcome of next month’s UFC 299 headliner between incumbent gold holder, Sean O’Malley, and incoming title chaser, Marlon Vera, Cejudo boldly claimed that if he misses out on striking gold at the weight class in the future, his retirement will be a definite one.
“That being said, I either want it all or you can have everything,” Henry Cejudo told UFC.com during a recent interview. “I’m either going to get the world title or that’s it for me. I’m not here to be a fighter, just sign posters, to be cool. I’m here to obtain what’s mine. Or you can have it.”
“I will go down as the greatest combat [athlete] of all time,” Henry Cejudo explained. “I’m not just cherry-picking [fights], I fought the consensus number one in the world in Aljamain (Sterling), now I’m going against the number one contender in the world. Like, there’s not easy shortcuts for me. And I challenged.” (H/T MMA Mania)
And ahead of UFC 298, Cejudo appeared to cut ties with long-time head coach, Eric Albarracin for his fight with Tbilisi native, Dvalishvili, however, later in the week, the Los Angeles-born fighter later doubled back – claiming the entire conversation between the two was part of a joke devised.
henry cejudo got us good
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— Dovy
(@DovySimuMMA)