UFC president Dana White has harsh response to Henry Cejudo’s MMA Mt. Rushmore aspirations
Former UFC two-division champ Henry Cejudo recently expressed his desire to be considered the greatest MMA fighter of all time. However, UFC President Dana White had a less than enthusiastic response to Cejudo's aspirations.
'Triple C' believes that a victory over Aljamain Sterling would solidify his status as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time. Cejudo will square off against Sterling in the upcoming UFC 288 headliner on Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
Originally, the Olympic gold medalist named Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson, Anderson Silva, and Georges St-Pierre as his 'MMA Mount Rushmore'. However, if he were to reclaim his bantamweight title from 'Funkmaster', Cejudo sees himself surpassing St-Pierre's legacy and joining the ranks of the greatest MMA fighters of all time.
In response to Henry Cejudo's aspirations to be considered the MMA Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T), the UFC president was straightforward and disparaging, stating that Cejudo's claims were baseless and that he has not yet earned the right to be considered the greatest MMA fighter of all time.
During a recent interview with TMZ Sports, White affirmed:
"There's no doubt the guy [Henry Cejudo] has broken a lot of records. He's accomplished a lot here. But, to go out there and start saying, 'Hey, I should be on the Mount Rushmore' when you've been retired for 3 years, and when you retired, in my opinion, sort of early."
White also pointed out that as long as reigning heavyweight champion Jon Jones is still active, Cejudo's claim to be the greatest UFC fighter of all time cannot be taken seriously:
"Listen, you beat Aljo, there are still a few fights out there for him to really cement himself as one of the greatest of all time. While I agree he would be on the Mt. Rushmore, still tough to call himself the G.O.A.T. while Jon Jones still exists."
Check out the UFC boss' entire remarks on Henry Cejudo here:
Henry Cejudo's return to fighting: A surprising change of plans
In an interview with Fox Sports Australia, Henry Cejudo admitted that his opponent Aljamain Sterling wasn't his first choice when it came to making a comeback in the UFC. The former two-division champion who had previously announced his retirement following his triumph over Dominick Cruz at UFC 249, revealed that he had lost his passion for the sport after accomplishing everything he had set out to do.
During the interview, 'The Messenger' expressed his loyalty to his ultimate dream of becoming a champion but admitted that he had started exploring other interests after achieving that feat. Cejudo even confessed to former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker that he wasn't loyal to anything but his dream of becoming a champion:
"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."
Check out Henry Cejudo's entire remarks below: