“Stay in your lane, Henry. Come on mate.”
Surging UFC featherweight contender Alexander Volkanovski thinks two-division champ Henry Cejudo is literally punching above his weight by wanting to challenge for the 145-pound title.
Cejudo, who beat Marlon Moraes at UFC 238 to become the promotion’s first ever simultaneous flyweight and bantamweight champion, said in his post-fight interview that his next goal is to capture the featherweight belt and etch his name into the history books as the greatest combat sports athlete of all time.
Speaking to Submission Radio in a recent interview, Volkanovski warned Cejudo to stay in his lane while complimenting him at the same time.
“Stay in your lane, Henry. Come on mate,” Volkanovski said, per MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew.
“Honestly, what he’s done is unbelievable. It was good on him. I actually picked him to win. I didn’t expect him to have so many problems earlier. I knew the guy was powerful. Maybe the ankle was why was he was sort of cowering to the kicks a little bit, if you know what I mean. . . So for him to overcome that and get it done, good on him. Him coming to 145, you gotta be quick in this division, but we’re still quick and we’re just a whole another powerful type of beast. And we’re a stacked division, a lot of very tough guys in our division that I don’t think he’ll want any of that. But maybe he’ll give it a crack, maybe UFC will let him do it. But yeah, that will change quick.”
Volkanovski, who cruised to a unanimous decision against former featherweight king Jose Aldo at UFC 237, believes he would be too ‘powerful’ for ‘The Messenger’ at 145-pounds.
“Well, he ain’t gonna take me down,” he said. “And if he does, I’m getting back up. And again, I got the cardio, and then again, I’m just gonna be too powerful. And again, I’m good on the outside. He’s gonna be a lot shorter than me. You see what I can use in my range, even with tall people, imagine what I could do to someone half my size. That will be interesting. But look man, again, he’s an athlete, he really is, he’s explosive, he still would be dangerous and quick, but at the same time, I just think he’ll have a puncher’s chance. But him being that light, I don’t think that’s likely.”
If Cejudo doesn’t make the move to featherweight, it’s expected that top contender Volkanovski will face the winner of the upcoming title bout between Max Holloway and Frankie Edgar at UFC 240. The PPV takes place next month, July 27 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Canada.