Henry Cejudo had a different return fight in mind when he decided to come out of retirement
Henry Cejudo claimed in an interview with Fox Sports Australia that Aljamain Sterling was not the fight he had in mind when considering coming out of retirement.
The two-division UFC champ, who retired after his second-round TKO victory over former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz at UFC 249, further expressed that he had lost his enthusiasm for the sport after achieving all of his goals.
Furthermore, during the interview, while communicating with former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, Henry Cejudo claimed that the only thing he was loyal to was his dream of becoming a champion.
Once he achieved that, he began exploring other interests:
"I tell people all the time, I'm not loyal to myself, I'm not loyal to my team. You know what I'm loyal to Robert? I'm loyal to the dream and we're loyal to the dream and when you are loyal to the dream, you'll do whatever it takes. I mean at the loss of Demetrious Johnson, I fired my whole staff. I started traveling the world, I started looking into other things and other other coaching and things Institute."
Watch the video below:
While answering the question of why he decided to return, Henry Cejudo stated that he came back to challenge Alexander Volkanovski and take him down.
"You know my original goal was to just go up to 145 pounds and challenge it."
He further stated that he believes he can pose a problem for Volkanovski, since most of Volkanovski's opponents have been bigger than him in previous fights. So, being the same size as Volkanovski, he believes he can cause him trouble.
During the latter part of the interview, the former double-champ also wished to teach Robert a thing or two and dissect the plan on how to beat Israel Adesanya. if they meet again in the octagon.
What it would mean if Aljamain Sterling beat Henry Cejudo in UFC 288
UFC returns to Newark, N.J., after a long three years on Sat., May 6, 2023, inside the Prudential Center, where the reigning bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling will attempt to defend his title against the returning former two-division titleholder and Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo.
The two fighters bumped into each other at the UFC288 fighter hotel and had an interesting conversation. It was a calm and respectful interaction as they shook hands for quite a while in an awkward manner.
Cejudo was seen asking Sterling, 'Are you ready?' Sterling replied, 'I'm always ready.' They exchanged a few more words before parting ways.
@funkmasterMMA ran into Henry at the fighter hotel. https://t.co/0Jknje4CUc
A fight at UFC 288 might be the biggest task the current bantamweight champion has faced in his career so far. Beating former two-division champion Henry Cejudo won't come easy, and if the 'Funk Master' is able to do so, it would be a huge achievement to add to his illustrious career.