Henry Cejudo Chooses Not to Retire Following UFC 298 Loss
via mmafighting.com
Former UFC Flyweight and Bantamweight Champion, and former Olympic Gold Medalist in Freestyle Wrestling, Henry Cejudo has chosen not to retire following his loss to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298. In the leadup to this fight, Cejudo had stated that if he lost against Dvalisvili, that it would be the end of the road for his mixed martial arts career. He stated in an appearance in the Jaxxon Podcast that his next fight was “all or nothing, man.”
However, in a video posted to his YouTube Channel, Cejudo stated that he could not stomach going out the way he did. Cejudo explained why while sitting in a hot tub oddly enough as to why he would like to continue
“If I could change everything, I probably would never come back, but now that I’m back, I got to s*** where I sleep,” Cejudo said. “For that reason, I cannot go out like that. So I’m here today ladies and gentlemen, taking my word back as a man, confronting you guys, you the people, you my fans, you my family, you my friends, you the haters, that I just cannot go out like this. Guys, to say the least, it is far from over with the ‘Triple C.'”
Although his fight with Dvalishvili was largely one sided, Cejudo did have his moments. He was able to stun Dvalishvili with a strong left hook in the opening round, but as the fight went on, it only got worse. At one point Dvalishvili picked Cejudo up, and walked him over to Mark Zuckerberg sitting Octagon side, and continued to hit Cejudo with ground and pound while talking to the social media figure.
Despite how one sided this fight was, this was likely the hardest fight that Cejudo could have taken. There are still many fighters at bantamweight that he could realize success against, but at age 37, it is a possibility that his skills could be declining at a faster rate than ever.
It is also a question whether or not it is even worth taking the risk taking even more damage at a rather old age for such a light weight class. He is already a former two division champion, and an Olympic Gold Medalist, so what does he have left to prove? Other than the fact that he can still be effective at his current age, there is virtually nothing. Cejudo still has yet to announce when he would like to make his return, but taking a longer layoff may play in his favor.
