Henry Cejudo wanted to make history with a title shot against UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 272, but UFC president Dana White had different plans.
After Max Holloway withdrew from his trilogy bout with Volkanovski a collection of UFC fighters reached out for the opportunity to fill in. Cejudo was one of those fighters and did his best to try to get White’s attention. After all, Cejudo is a former UFC double champ at flyweight and bantamweight. A win over Volkanovski at featherweight would have resulted in “Triple C” becoming the first fighter in UFC history to hold titles in three separate weight classes.
That type of history-chasing moment is something that UFC usually likes to exploit, but the promotion wasn’t willing to give Cejudo a title shot considering he’s been retired since May 2020. Instead, the title shot went to perennial contender Chan Sung Jung, who will now meet Volkanovski for the featherweight strap at UFC 273 this coming April.
White, who has never seemed interested in welcoming Cejudo back to the mix with a title shot, recently explained his decision to overlook the former champion when searching for Holloway’s replacement.
“I can tell you this: The ‘Korean Zombie’ (Chan Sung Jung) has been here fighting,” White told BT Sport. “This guy’s retired. He’s been off for how many years now, and he wants to come in and fight Alexander Volkanovski? You’ve got guys like the Zombie, Josh Emmett, Giga (Chikadze) who’s fighting this weekend. You’ve got these guys that are in here doing it three times a year and working their way up. For Cejudo to retire and then just think he should be able to come in and jump into any weight division and take on the champion, it’s not how it works.”
Cejudo, who has become one of the more outspoken fighters on social media today, wasted little time responding to White’s comments. “Triple C” posted the following message to Twitter Friday afternoon.
So if I had blonde hair and blue eyes or if I was a Canadian with a accent,maybe you would give it to me? I defend both my belts unlike GPS. I left on top and retired on that Monday to give the rest of the division’S a chance. You are plain out scared that I will win.@danawhite pic.twitter.com/nlLyNwi1ne
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) January 14, 2022
“So if I had blonde hair and blue eyes or if I was a Canadian with a accent, maybe you would give it to me? I defend both my belts unlike GPS. I left on top and retired on that Monday to give the rest of the division’S a chance. You are plain out scared that I will win,” wrote Cejudo.
As of now Cejudo still plans to make his Octagon return in 2022 one way or another. It would have been pretty cool to see him do it against Volkanovski and try to win his third title, but it seems like “Triple C” has to get back in the good graces of the boss before that happens.