Henry Cejudo says he might come out of retirement for massive title clash; Manager claims 'Triple C' will compete this summer
UFC 249 witnessed some of the craziest moments in combat sports history go down, starting from Francis Ngannou's violent 20-second KO of Jairzinho Rozenstruik to Justin Gaethje ending the unprecedented 12-fight winning streak Tony Ferguson had inside the Octagon.
However, what left most people shocked was reigning UFC bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo announcing his retirement after his fight against Dominick Cruz in the co-headliner UFC 249. Cejudo won the fight via second-round TKO, marking his first successful bantamweight title defense. In his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Cejudo left everyone stunned as he announced his retirement from professional MMA.
Cejudo believes that there isn't much left for him to conquer in the MMA circuit, having already beaten the likes of arguably the greatest pound-for-pound fighter ever Demetrious Johnson and former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw; also, Cejudo captured two belts in the UFC while he was at it.
However, Cejudo’s manager Ali Abdelaziz believes Cejudo still has a lot to offer and will step out of retirement in summer to compete again. Speaking to TMZ Sports, Abdelaziz compared Cejudo's situation to that of another of his high-profile clients - Khabib Nurmagomedov. No matter what Cejudo says, his manager believes that the "king of cringe" would not go out at a time when his abilities as a fighter have just peaked and the spotlight never shone brighter on him.
“Khabib every time he fights, ‘I think I’m done. 2 weeks later, ‘Who you think I should fight next?’ Because these guys are at their prime. Henry’s coming into his prime. How you gonna retire in your prime? Henry has everybody on their knees right now. I don’t think he’s gonna retire. You’re gonna see him fight by the summer.”
Cejudo is only interested in one fight
Speaking to Logan Paul on the latter's 'impaulsiveshow' on Instagram, Cejudo even mentioned coming out of retirement for a title fight against the reigning king of the featherweight division Alexander Volkanovski. If that fight materializes and Cejudo ends up winning, he will become the first three-weight world champion in UFC history.