"I want a third title because I want to be different"- Henry Cejudo
At UFC 249, Henry Cejudo defeated Dominick Cruz, via TKO, in order to retain the UFC Bantamweight Championship in a fight that ended in a rather controversial manner. However, the bigger surprise was Cejudo's post-fight interview, as 'Triple C' announced his retirement from the sport and claimed that he would be stepping down from fighting.
As it turned out, it in-fact was Cejudo's last fight in the Octagon (Well, so far, at least), with the UFC deciding to remove him from their official rankings and vacate the UFC Bantamweight Championship, as well.
However, while speaking to TMZ Sports recently, Cejudo laid down the condition and contender, who would spark his interest in a potential return to the Octagon, at some point down the road.
Henry Cejudo reveals what it would take him to return to the UFC
Henry Cejudo was recently interviewed by TMZ Sports and during the interview, the former UFC Bantamweight Champion revealed what it would take for him to make a return to fighting, after having announced his retirement at UFC 249.
Cejudo claimed that, as of now, there is only one fight that would bring him back or as he liked to put it, one fight that would wake him up in the morning, and that is a clash against reigning UFC Featherweight Champion, Alexander Volkanovski.
'Triple C' made it pretty clear that he wants to win a third title because he wants to be different than others, given that there have already been other "champ-champs" in the UFC but only one 'Triple C'.
Quote via ESPN:
Cejudo was last seen in Octagon action at UFC 249 when he successfully defended the UFC Bantamweight Championship against former champion, Dominick Cruz in the co-main event fight of the evening.
What's next for the UFC Bantamweight Division?
The UFC Bantamweight Division is currently stacked with some of the top names in the fighting business and most of them competed this past weekend at UFC 250. With Cody Garbrandt, Aljamain Sterling, and Sean O'Malley winning their respective fights against Raphael Assuncao, Cory Sandhagen, and Eddie Wineland, respectively.
However, the fight which will decide the new UFC Bantamweight Champion is a clash between Petr Yan and Jose Aldo, which will take place at a future UFC event for the vacant title.
In the aftermath of Cejudo's retirement, the former Bantamweight Champion did appear on All Elite Wrestling on their weekly Dynamite show, along with Mike Tyson's crew that went toe-to-toe with Chris Jericho's Inner Circle.