Tag: Henry Cejudo

Henry Cejudo’s evening at his Phoenix home took an unexpected turn when a speeding vehicle, estimated at 80-100 mph, crashed into a neighbor’s house.

As the driver attempted to flee and passengers followed, Cejudo and the homeowner intervened. 

Cejudo, a former two-division UFC champion, personally detained and restrained one of the people until law enforcement arrived.

“You can see inside this room, if someone was standing in there, they would be dead. All these kids are lucky to be alive,” Cejudo said in a statement shared with MMA Junkie. “Once they got out I told them, ‘Hey, you guys aren’t going nowhere.’ The owner of this house tried to stop them and said you need to be held accountable. One of them ended up (punching) my neighbor, and that’s when I had to step in.

“Pretty much all my neighbours came in to fight the situation. I ended up lifting him, dropping him, slapped him around a little bit and just pretty much controlled him. If it was a couple hours earlier, someone would be seriously injured,” Cejudo said.

In his last fight, Cejudo faced Song Yadong in the main event of UFC Seattle on February 22. It ended when “Triple C” couldn’t continue after being poked in the eye. Song won the fight by technical decision after the bout was stopped at the beginning of the fourth round.

Henry Cejudo is dealing with significant frustration following his controversial loss to Song Yadong at UFC Fight Night Seattle.

While Cejudo felt he was gaining momentum, a severe eye poke in the third round forced the fight to end abruptly. Unable to continue, the former two-division lost via technical decision as the judges’ scorecards determined the outcome.

“Triple C” has had an issue with referee Jason Herzog’s handling of the situation, believing Song was not properly penalized for the eye poke. He also pointed out that after the fight resumed, the Chinese standout immediately extended his fingers toward Cejudo’s face again, suggesting a pattern of unsafe striking.

Initially, Cejudo pushed for a rematch, but UFC CEO Dana White quickly dismissed the idea. With that door closed, the 38-year-old has now set his sights on a different opponent — a fellow former UFC champion.

With a rematch against Song Yadong off the table, Cejudo is now targeting Petr Yan, believing it’s the best next step.

“Petr Yan, man,” Cejudo said on a recent episode of his Pound 4 Pound podcast. “Obviously, Kamaru [Usman], I would love to run it back if Dana… you know, obviously this is Dana’s decision. I know when he says certain sht, like he lays on it. But if we can’t run it back with Song—because I don’t feel like I lost to him—I really don’t, bro.”

Cejudo made it clear that while he accepted his previous defeats to Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili, he doesn’t feel the same way about his loss to Song.

“OK, I lost to Aljamain, I lost to fcking Merab, my last two fights. I don’t feel like that with this dude. If we can run it back and do a five-rounder — we could do it at the Apex, we could do it for free, dude. At this point, it’s just about competing and really showing the competitive spirit in me. But if we can’t get Song, I would love to fight Petr Yan, dude. Petr Yan’s looking to fight in May. If the UFC is willing to give me that, I’ll take it.”

Kamaru Usman appeared resistant to the callout, suggesting that Yan remains a prime contender for a future title opportunity. Usman implied that a fight against “Triple C” could be a high-risk, low-reward situation for Yan, potentially jeopardizing his own title aspirations.

Cejudo, however, argued that with the bantamweight title picture focused on Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili, Yan would be left waiting if he didn’t take another fight.

“They’re talking about [Sean] O’Malley and homeboy [Dvalishvili],” Cejudo replied. “What’s he going to do? Sit out for a fcking year? Petr wants to fight in May, bro.”

Cejudo even addressed Yan in Russian to further push the fight, directly challenging him.

“Let’s go, dude,” Cejudo continued. “I’m here. I’ll be good by May. As soon as my eye clears up, which should be within days — and I’m still seeing double, Kamaru. As soon as it clears, I want to get back to the gym and just scrap, dude. I want to fight, dude. That’s all there is to it.”

With Cejudo eager to return and Yan looking for an opponent, a May matchup between the two former champions could make sense — if the UFC is willing to book it.

Henry Cejudo hasn’t ruled out a return to the flyweight division, but for now, his attention is fully on his upcoming bantamweight fight against Song Yadong.

The former two-division champion will headline UFC Fight Night Seattle this Saturday at Climate Pledge Arena.

Cejudo, who once held both the flyweight and bantamweight titles simultaneously, is often credited with saving the UFC’s 125-pound division. Snce coming out of retirement in 2023, he has suffered back-to-back decision losses at 135 pounds — first in a competitive fight against then-champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288 and then in a dominant defeat to current champ Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298.

Despite these setbacks, Cejudo sees a potential future at flyweight.

“I’ve got to cut the weight, but there is a potential thing that I could be going back down,” Cejudo said during media day this week. “With a victory here, I don’t think there’s anybody at flyweight that could really sell the division.

“I think there’s too many dry people at that weight division. I feel like what I’ve done in combat sports, particularly the flyweights, is saving that division back in 2020. There could be a resurrection there.”

Cejudo’s recent comments about the flyweight division weren’t necessarily a slight toward current champion Alexandre Pantoja. Instead, “Triple C” believes he could help bring more attention and excitement to the weight class.

“I love Pantoja, and that’s another thing, too,” Cejudo said. “I spent New Year’s (with him)—I’m super close to Pantoja. He’s a great fighter, but sometimes I think he can create storylines because everybody is kind of dry at flyweight. There’s no tussle. There’s no storylines.”

He then reflected on how he once convinced UFC CEO Dana White to keep the flyweight division alive after winning the title from Demetrious Johnson.

“When I became champion, it was my responsibility. It was my responsibility when I talked to Dana. They were going to get rid of the division. He told me, ‘Hey man, I just want to let you know that I’m going to grant you your decision.’

“After I beat Demetrious (Johnson), I wanted to go up and become a double champ because the whole storyline was Demetrious Johnson vs. T.J. Dillashaw. I said, ‘I’m going to beat this dude, and I’m challenging the winner of Cody (Garbrandt) and T.J.’ Exactly what happened. He said, ‘We’re going to grant you, but we’re going to get rid of the division.’ I remember my heart just sunk. It just didn’t feel right. … I said, ‘Let’s bring (Dillashaw) down.’ So T.J. wanted to go down. I’m just like, ‘Let’s give him what he wants.’ So I beat him at 125 and then go up to 35 and then do it again.”

A win could set him up for another title push — whether at bantamweight or in a return to 125 pounds.