Henry Cejudo is a combat sports legend. Wrestling Olympic gold medalist in 2008 and a two division UFC champion, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s one of the greatest combat athletes to have ever lived. However, due to his lack of longevity as champion in both the flyweight and bantamweight divisions, I rarely see people list him as a top 5 fighter of all time. Yet, I believe one more fight can change that.
Cejudo ‘retired’ last year at UFC 249 but has constantly teased fans for several months of a potential return to the octagon. Lately, we’ve seen ‘Triple C’ address his attention to featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski, who’s just come off an impressive win over Brian Ortega at UFC 266 and is looking to fight as soon as possible.
It’s highly likely Cejudo is just stringing us fans along again, however, there’s a good chance to become a champion in three different divisions, which is a feat that the majority of fans believe is impossible to achieve. Although Cejudo hasn’t competed for a year and a half, it’s an opportunity that no other fighter has ever had and will ever have for the foreseeable future so I’m sure he’ll be willing to take it.
A lot of people believe Cejudo will be too small to fight at featherweight only being 5’4, however, he naturally walks around at 165lbs so he won’t have to gain any weight for the fight, he’ll instead only have to cut 20lbs, and he can enter the octagon at around 155-160lbs. Volkanovski, actually enters the octagon at around 165lbs himself so they’ll only be around a 5-10lb difference between the two of them when they fight.
Furthermore, the height difference between both men is only 2 inches. The only major difference between both men is the reach, with Cejudo’s being 64 inches and Volkanovski’s being 71, but then again, Cejudo has fought Dominic Cruz who’s 5’8 with a 68 inch reach, so it wouldn’t be too alien for him.
This would be a huge test for Cejudo yet it’s plausible for him to win. He’ll be much faster than Volkanovski and even if he’s smaller than the majority of guys Volk has faced, he still hits very hard, and we saw that power translate when he jumped up to Bantamweight and KO’d Marlon Moraes and Dominick Cruz.
In addition, although Volk is stronger than Cejudo, his wrestling isn’t up to the same standard as the former Olympic gold medalist so it’s highly likely he’ll like to fight on the feet, where Volkanovski is much better. Yet Cejudo’s speed and power, may help him on the feet and could open Volkanovski to be taken down, which we’ve seen before against Chad Mendes, so it’s definitely a possibility.
Nevertheless, if this fight was to happen, it would be incredible and all we can do is hope that it will be confirmed in the near future. I think we’d have to wait until at least UFC 271 next year because this has to be a main event.
TheWrestlingFallacy 