"He just gets hurt too much" - Henry Cejudo reacts to Dominick Cruz retiring ahead of UFC Seattle with revelation about potential rematch booking
Former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo has shared his reaction to Dominick Cruz’s retirement ahead of UFC Seattle. Cruz was locked in to face Rob Font at the upcoming UFC Fight Night. However, he opted to retire ahead of the bout after sustaining a severe shoulder injury.
After two back-to-back wins in 2021, 'The Dominator' locked horns with Marlon Vera in 2022 and lost by KO/TKO. The bout against Vera will go down as his final appearance for the promotion. Notably, in his final title bid in 2020, Cruz came up short against then-champion Cejudo, losing via second-round TKO, and the former has repeatedly criticized the referee's stoppage on the night.
Cejudo, who will make his octagon return at UFC Seattle against Song Yadong, shared his thoughts on Cruz’s retirement. In a recent interview with TNT Sports, 'Triple C' revealed that the former two-time UFC bantamweight kingpin wanted a rematch with him, but the UFC wasn't on board.
Highlighting Cruz's unfortunate injury record, Cejudo said:
"I mean I guess congratulations to Dominick. I don't know me and him never really got along. We had a rivalry. He actually wanted to fight me too. And I accept but the UFC didn’t want to do that fight. So, but I would have been super pis*ed if Dominick would have if our fight have been locked in and he wouldn’t have fight."
Cejudo added:
"So I’ll never fight that dude like it’s stupid. He just gets hurt too much dude like there is no need to prepare for somebody like that."
Check out Henry Cejudo's comments below:
Henry Cejudo outlines Dominick Cruz's areas for improvement as a fighter
Dominick Cruz announced his retirement via social media, bringing an end to a historic career. At UFC Seattle media day, Henry Cejudo shared his thoughts on Cruz's retirement, pointing out that he never took the time to learn more about his body, adapt to ailments, or take the necessary breaks for rehabilitation.
"That’s his decision. He may go back and be like, ‘Hey, you know what, maybe I want my last dance to be done correctly.’ I don’t think he really made those adjustments as a fighter to really understand his body more."
'Triple C' added:
"I’m going to give you guys an example. Khabib did a really good job of going through injuries and then adapted and adjusted, and how is it that he can get better? A lot of fighters have gone through that, but I don’t think Dominick ever really found it. Whether it was rest, nutrition, overtraining, undertraining, whatever that may be.”
Check out Henry Cejudo's comments below (7:00):