Henry Cejudo was an interested observer on Saturday night when
Alexander Volkanovski defeated Brian Ortega in a “Fight of the
Year” candidate at UFC 266.
After the event, Cejudo tweeted at UFC president Dana White, with
the following claim: “I’m gonna take Alexander the Average’s Soul.”
That prompted a succint response from the featherweight champion at
the UFC 266 post-fight press conference.
“He’s called out everyone. He’s called out females. Does he
actually believe the s—t that comes out of his mouth? Nah, not
worried about him. I’ll squash the little germ,” Volkanovski
said.
In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, Cejudo doubled down on his
callout of Volkanovski, pleading with White to allow him to move up
to 145 pounds.
“Not only do I believe that I can beat him, I know I can stop him,”
Cejudo said. “As much as I saw good things from Volkanovski, there
are still a lot of holes. I believe my height would be problem for
him, because he is a couple inches taller than me. My speed, my
wrestling, my experience, I’ve been in there against the best.
Okay, Alexander the Average had a great performance, it was a great
fight, I just believe that I have the ‘It’ factor to beat this
dude. Not only to beat this dude, but to stop him.
“Allow me to make history. If he’s that good, allow him to shut me
up. Dana White, if you’re listening, this is a real message. Forget
the cringe, forget the persona, this is straight up me: I am the
greatest combat athlete of all time and I promise you, if you give
me the opportunity, I will knock this dude out in no less than
three rounds.”
Cejudo announced his retirement following a second-round TKO win
over Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 in May 2020 and has not appeared to
seriously consider a comeback since then. It’s not the first time,
however, that he’s hinted that a title shot against Volkanovski
could
convince him to make a comeback.
Cejudo has won titles at flyweight and bantamweight, and he scoffed
at the notion that he might be too undersized to move up to
challenge Volkanovski.
“I’m 165 pounds, believe it or not. 145 would fit me perfect,”
Cejudo said. “Again, if anybody doubts this mind, if you think I
won the Olympics because I got lucky or the two belts, hate the
cringe, whatever the hell, but I’m a freaking competitor and I just
want a challenge. I want a shot at legacy. I want a shot to be the
first UFC triple champ, to win three belts on top of my Olympic
gold medal. That’s it.”