Henry Cejudo, former two-division champion of UFC, has made it clear that he is not retiring after his split decision loss to reigning bantamweight titleholder Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288 this past Saturday. Instead, the 36-year old fighter appears to be targeting a match up with top bantamweight contender Merab Dvalishvili.
Cejudo took to Instagram on Monday and declared “This s*** is far from over” while tagging Dana White and requesting a fight with Dvalishvili. He also tagged the post with #UFCBoston, suggesting that the fight would happen at a rumored card in Boston on August 19th. This news was confirmed by UFC commentator Jon Anik during Saturday’s broadcast of UFC 288.
If Cejudo can secure this matchup, it could potentially put him right back into contention for the bantamweight title again despite having retired just last year in 2020. During his initial run with UFC he won titles as both flyweight and bantamweight divisions after defeating some of the most talented fighters in those categories including Dominick Cruz, Demetrious Johnson and Marlon Moraes among others .
Merab Dvalishvili currently sports an impressive nine-fight win streak which ties him for longest streak in the division with Sterling himself; however there exists an interesting wrinkle here since both men have vowed not to fight each other due to their close friendship and training partnership . This situation was recently brought into light when Sean O’Malley stepped into octagon for face off against Sterling only for Dvalishvili to steal O’Malley’s jacket nearly sparking a melee between both men .
In response ,Dvalishvili seems excited about potential match up tweeting
“Let’s Go! I will take another @funkmasterMMA ‘s leftovers ..for now!”
indicating that he might be willing to face off against Cejudo should they meet inside octagon . Both parties seem keen on making this happen but we will have wait patiently until official announcements are made from UFC regarding date , venue and location so stay tuned folks!
Comments:
I agree with you
there’s no reason why Cejudo should be the one to fight Merab. He has no experience fighting anyone at this level
it’s a terrible decision!
It’s obvious that someone more experienced is needed for the match
and Cejudo just hasn’t been in enough fights to handle it. He’ll get demolished.
Cejudo might surprise us all, though
he obviously has some skills, so let’s give him a chance.
No way – this is too big of an opportunity for him to mess up! We need an experienced fighter who can handle the pressure of such an important fight.
But what about his record? It shows he could be capable of handling it
plus, the event would draw in tons of new fans by having him fight instead.
No matter how well he performed before, this isn’t something that can be taken lightly. We need someone reliable and trustworthy enough to win this match.
I don’t think we should take any chances here
if Merab wins due to our misstep then we’re all going down together – not just Cejudo.