Title fight against Henry Cejudo would be a "waste of time", says Alexander Volkanovski
Reigning UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski doesn't believe in the feasibility of a potential clash with former UFC bantamweight and flyweight champion Henry Cejudo. Alexander Volkanovski feels that a fight against Cejudo for the featherweight title is nothing but a "waste of time".
Henry Cejudo famously announced his retirement earlier this year after successfully defending his bantamweight throne against Dominick Cruz in the co-main event of UFC 249. However, despite having stepped away from the fight game, Cejudo claimed that he'd step out of retirement for a fight against Alexander Volkanovski for the 145lb title.
Alexander Volkanovski had never really shown interest in the matchup and on the latest episode of Submission Radio, the champ said that a fight against Triple-C is nothing but a waste of time.
“He definitely lives up to his name when it’s the cringe, but I always thought the cringe was just things he said, but now it’s getting cringey how much he’s begging for a title fight,” Volkanovski. “He just doesn’t stop. It’s cringey how you retire, and you call out everyone, stirring shit everywhere. It just seems like he’s even stirring the pot in the divisions that he retired in. He’s still getting lippy to some of the guys back down there, but obviously he’s calling me out. And again, if it was gonna happen it was earlier in the year. But again, I’ve got a division to hold and I’ve got my eye on the division. I want these number one contenders. And if for some reason the UFC pushed that [Cejudo fight] on me, like I said, I’ve got to get paid for it, because it’s just a waste of time for me, I believe. A waste of time for the division.”
Cejudo wants to fight Alexander Volkanovski because he wants to become a three-division champion—the first in UFC history.
According to Alexander Volkanovski, however, it would simply never happen. Alexander Volkanovski believes that the featherweight division is above Cejudo's paygrade.
“He’s done great things in flyweight and bantamweight, but I mean, featherweight is whole different beast,” Volkanovski said. “That’s why it’s never been done. I get why he wants to chase it. It makes sense. Again, it’s a win-win for him. I go out there and mop the floor with him, ‘ah yeah, he’s a lot bigger, blah, blah, blah’. That’s why it just doesn’t make sense for me, cause everyone’s just going to sort of expect me to go out there and mop the floor. And that’s pretty much exactly what’s going to happen. No disrespect to Henry Cejudo, but it’s a whole different breed in this division. So, it would just be a waste of time.”