"You retired" - Dana White doesn't seem keen on letting Henry Cejudo jump the line over Max Holloway to fight Alexander Volkanovski
UFC president Dana White isn't on board with a potential super fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Henry Cejudo. For now, at least.
As far as White is concerned, Cejudo is not jumping in line ahead of Max Holloway and the rest of the top featherweight contenders. During a press conference after Tuesday night's episode of Dana White's Contender Series, the UFC boss told reporters:
"Listen, he retired. You've been off all this time and you want to come back and fight Volkanovski and jump the line and jump over Max and all these other guys that have been there? It's a tough conversation." (Via MMA Junkie)
Cejudo, the former two-division UFC champ, hasn't competed since his UFC 249 victory in May 2020. However, 'The Messenger' hasn't stopped calling out his fellow stars from the sidelines. Cejudo recently issued a challenge to Volkanovski following the latter's successful title defense at UFC 266.
Not one to be outdone, Volkanovski responded by saying he'd "squash the little germ (Cejudo)" should they meet inside the octagon. For now, though, their ongoing feud will have to stay on social media as White doesn't seem intent on making the fight happen for the foreseeable future.
Watch Dana White address talks of a potential Alexander Volkanovski vs. Henry Cejudo matchup:
Dana White addresses a potential @AlexVolkanovski vs. @HenryCejudo title fight.
"You want to come back ... and jump over Max and all these other guys that have been there?
#DWCS | Full video: bit.ly/2YxrZ2e https://t.co/EwfXUPAyZk
Henry Cejudo's manager says 'Triple C' will beat Alexander Volkanovski, disagrees with Dana White
Ali Abdelaziz, the manager of Henry Cejudo, believes Dana White will miss a big opportunity if he dismisses a Volkanovski-Cejudo matchup. The MMA manager took to Twitter to address White's recent comments and wrote:
"[Dana White] is a great promoter, a great promoter put on great fights [Henry Cejudo] vs Alexander Volkanovski is big fight. Henry will beat him fair and square. It’s a bad matchup for the champ. Much respect fro him"
@danawhite is a great promoter , great promoter put on great fights @HenryCejudo vs Alexander Volkanovski is big fight . Henry will beat him fair and square . It’s a bad matchup for the champ . Much respect fro him twitter.com/shaunalshatti/…
As it stands, former titleholder Max Holloway is the favorite to challenge Volkanovski for the featherweight crown next. But for the moment, the Hawaiian superstar has more urgent matters to attend to as he's set for a clash against Yair Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 197.