Ever since Henry Cejudo retired after defending his bantamweight title, casual fans of the sport would think he was anything but retired.
Henry Cejudo wants to fight Max Holloway
King of Cringe trash talking
Through the power of media, Cejudo (16-2) has trash-talked various fighters of the combat sports world, believing they would be no match for him in a fight. Teasing a return at every chance he gets, the man has called out current UFC champions in multiple weight classes from flyweight, bantamweight and featherweight in Deiveson Figueiredo, Petr Yan and Alexander Volkanovski respectively. Even championship boxers like Ryan Garcia have faced the wrath of “Triple C”. Now he has called out the former UFC featherweight kingpin Max Holloway.
Max Holloway challenge excites Triple C
After successfully defending his bantamweight belt against Dominick Cruz in impressive fashion, Cejudo shocked the MMA sports world by retiring in his prime after defeating greats such as Demetrious Johnson and TJ Dillashaw. Now the former flyweight and bantamweight champion explained in a recent interview with ESPN why a fight with Holloway excites him.
“I have never called out Holloway,” Cejudo said “Even when he had the belt, I have never called out Max Holloway. But he’s another fight that I feel like in the future I would love to fight because people would not believe me that I could beat him because he’s so damn tall and what he’s been able to do. I love the challenge. I love the fact that people do not believe that I can beat him.
“I think that Max Holloway fight, because nobody would believe me, is the same reason why I would want that fight. He’s taller than me. He’s inflicted a lot more damage on different people. But I feel like I’m just too smart and just too skilled and I love the challenge if I were to ever fight Max Holloway.”
Max Holloway: The Blessed Express
Holloway is coming off arguably the best performance of his career as he demolished top 10 featherweight contender Calvin Kattar. Proving to be levels above Kattar and proclaiming to be the best boxer in the UFC, many people still believe Holloway is still the best featherweight in the world despite not being the current champion.
His second loss against featherweight champion Volkanovski was razor close with many believing that Holloway edged the former rugby league player. His performance against Kattar was so impressive that many believe Holloway has earned his title shot for a trilogy match against the current champion.
Size difference? No problem for Henry Cejudo
Now you ask yourself how does a former flyweight at 5’4″ compete against a man who is a 5’11” featherweight that has competed at lightweight and jokingly calls out retired heavyweight Daniel Cormier for a fight? Well, despite the big size difference Cejudo explained why he believes he would be victorious if a fight was to materialise against Holloway.
“I think my IQ, I think my smartness (is my advantage),” Cejudo said. “Of course, he has range. It would be the distance. This is the thing, watch my Dominick Cruz fight. Look at how much taller he is than me and look at how I was able to manage the distance, taking his legs out, the timing portion of it. I think it’s just my IQ. … I personally feel that there’s no doubt in my mind that I can beat him.”
Will it happen?
A matchup between Henry Cejudo and Max Holloway would certainly be interesting to many fans especially with two world-class future hall of famers pitted against each other however the UFC does not seem to be bothered by Cejudo’s callouts for a return and seem more than content to keep the man sitting on the sidelines. This is totally the opposite case with Khabib Nurmagomedov where it seems the UFC president Dana White is doing everything in his power to keep the undefeated Russian from retiring.
Will Cejudo make a return to the UFC? Only time will tell but one thing is obvious. “Triple C” is hungry for a fight.
