Cejudo ‘100%’ return in 2022, club for Volkanovski in February

Henry Cejudo is undoubtedly one of the best mixed martial artists on earth. As an Olympic gold medalist and former champion, he certainly deserves more love and credit than he gets.

It’s hard to take him too seriously when he spends so much time on Twitter talking like he wants to fight when there’s absolutely no evidence that he’s nearing retirement. When he left the USADA test group in March 2021, it was predictable whenever he started failing on Twitter as if he was about to come back and fight someone.

But according to Cejudo’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, Cejudo is not done yet. “Three Cs” reported to have re-entered the USADA test group in early October and his manager thinks he will definitely play next year.

“Yes, I have,” said Abdelaziz when asked by MMA Fighting if Cejudo fights in 2022. “I’m 100% sure. I think he has. ”

“If he [loses a featherweight title fight], he can go down to 135. He won’t join a fight. He’s going to be in a legacy match for three belts but at the end of the day there are also lots of bouts at 135 and 145, no problem. He is a competitor. As long as he’s breathing, this guy will become a competitor.”

The big fight Cejudo has on social media is against Alexander Volkanovski and there are two major hurdles that need to be jumped for that to happen: first, the UFC will have to pay Cejudo what he feels he deserves. worth it – something the UFC seems completely unwilling to do up to this point. And second, Cejudo will have to convince the UFC that he won’t drop the belt and walk away again as he did after winning the flyweight and bantamweight titles.

That’s where Ali comes in.

“I understand the UFC title is the most coveted title in all of sports,” Ali said. “You can’t just win a title and beat it, especially if you promise you’ll defend it. I can guarantee this, if I knew one percent that Henry would bounce, I wouldn’t get involved in it. Because, it’s important to keep my word as a man, to anyone, not just to Dana or Sean or to anyone in the UFC. As a man, I want to know that I am someone who has kept his word at all costs. I think Henry is this guy too. He is a respectable guy, he will always keep his word. “

As far as Abdelaziz is concerned, Cejudo was the perfect man to step in and break the deadlock at the start of the tournament where Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway continued to battle each other again and again.

“Of course Max deserves it too but I think the timing will be good because Henry can fight [Volkanovski] in February and Max can fight the winner,” said Abdelaziz. “But there is also a huge gap in division. You have Alexander, you have Max and that’s a huge gap and you have someone like Giga [Chikadze], who has a seven-match winning streak. Giga has a war. I think this is the perfect time for Henry to come on and see what he can do in the league. If he wins, he can fight Max and then he can fight Giga. In fact, it was a really great fight. It was a really big fight. ”

Abdelaziz is one of the UFC’s top managers because he understands promotions like a carousel that rapidly pumps out events. Continue to give the UFC options to fill the top of those events, and the chances of them saying yes are much higher than if you just came to them with a need for money or titles.

Volkanovski vs. Cejudo in February was a pretty solid bout and the perfect way to pump UFC 271: Adesanya vs. Whittaker from a solid card to a stack. Will the UFC accept it?