After disputing injury rumors ahead of his UFC 238 title fight against Marlon Moraes, Henry Cejudo apparently did go into the fight with some significant damage.
During the open workouts on Wednesday, there were rumors swirling around the Henry Cejudo camp. At the time, it was believed that “The Messenger” suffered a major injury after a loud scream was heard from inside the UFC workout room.
Cejudo immediately shut down the rumors during a media scrum, asserting he was healthy enough to compete for the then vacant 135-pound title.
“I did have a little bump on my knee, my right knee. I hit the edge of the damn corner. It hurt. That’s it,” he said.
Apparently, the Olympic gold medalist and now two-division UFC champion did enter the fight compromised with an injury. In a Twitter post by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, coach Eric Albarracin is seen holding up a photo of what looks like Cejudo’s left ankle with a huge bruise on it. The extent of the injury, however, was not specified.
Henry Cejudo’s coach Eric Albarracin just showed me a photo of the ankle injury Henry Cejudo went into tonight’s fight with. Injured it this week on the mats during a workout. pic.twitter.com/tuA9IXIDY0
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) June 9, 2019
According to Okamoto’s colleague Ariel Helwani, the injury was caused by mats being improperly taped.
Cejudo injured it while training on Wednesday at the hotel because the mats weren’t properly taped. That’s why he was wearing the two ankle sleeves tonight.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 9, 2019
Cejudo defeated Marlon Moraes via third round TKO to become the newly-crowned UFC bantamweight champion and the fourth fighter in UFC history to hold two world titles simultaneously.