Henry Cejudo's manager claims Bellator interim champ Patchy Mix is the "best bantamweight in the world right now"
Henry Cejudo is set to return to the octagon after a three-year hiatus this weekend. His manager, Ali Abdelaziz, believes that up until Cejudo's return, the current best bantamweight fighter in the world is Bellator's Patchy Mix.
In a recent interview with The Schmo, Abdelaziz showered praise on Mix's grappling:
“Right now, before Henry is competing, be back in the competition, I believe he [Patchy Mix] is the best bantamweight on the planet. I see him training with guys, I seen what he do with guys. To welterweight, middleweight, featherweight, to flyweight. This guy, he’s so gifted. And he does one thing so well, you can’t stop it. You know, he’s one of my hardest grapplers around and I grapple with many world champions. He’s just something special.”
Abdelaziz also mentioned Mix's last fight against Raufeon Stots, where he knocked his opponent out with a knee just 80 seconds into the fight. He won the interim bantamweight championship to cap off his five-fight win streak.
His manager added:
“And I think Bellator can claim now that they have the best 135’er in the world. They can. Because I think Patrick Mix is dangerous everywhere. And we seen what he did to Stots. Stots is one of the guys that’s hard to do things on and he knocked him out with a knee. And it’s just- this thing went viral and people finally realized that Patrick Mix arguably is the best bantamweight in the world.”
Check out Ali Abdelaziz's comments below [10:43]:
Henry Cejudo intends to challenge Alexander Volkanovski, wants to 'become C4'
Henry Cejudo is set to face Aljamain Sterling for the bantamweight championship at UFC 288 this weekend at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. But his sights are already set beyond the title fight.
In an interview with Megan Anderson, Henry Cejudo spoke about beating Sterling and Sean O'Malley before moving up to challenge Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight championship:
"Once I get done with you two tune-ups, I’m going after Alexander ‘The Average'. I want him. I do respect what he’s doing, I do respect what he’s done. But, I also do believe that he’s stopping me from making history, to put myself in a category, in a position that nobody has ever done. I am the ‘Triple C’, I’m looking to become ‘C4’."
Volkanovski has shown unparalleled dominance at featherweight, beating off his closest challenger Max Holloway thrice and being ruthless against other contenders to successfully become the No.1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world prior to Jon Jones' return.
Check out Henry Cejudo's comments below [17:58]: