Daniel Cormier and Ben Askren believe Henry Cejudo should continue pursuing a fight against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera.
On May 8, Cejudo returned to the UFC after retiring in 2020. ‘Triple C’ lost against Aljamain Sterling for the 135-pound title, but the former two-division UFC champion proved there’s plenty of gas left in the tank.
Cejudo attempted to land an interim title fight against Sean O’Malley while his fight with Sterling was rumored to be falling through. Unfortunately for ‘Triple C,’ Sterling confirmed he would defend his throne against O’Malley on August 19 at UFC 292.
There are now rumors of Cejudo fighting Vera on the same night as Sterling vs. O’Malley. Cormier responded to the news by saying this during a YouTube video with Askren:
“Henry Cejudo is gonna fight in Boston in August against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera… Henry is putting himself in a really good position to try to have an opportunity to become a champion again.”
Askren responded by saying:
“I love this for Henry because I said, ‘If Henry is gonna come back, he just needs to get after it.. Guess what, he’s getting after it. He just fought very recently, he’s gonna fight again… You need to get in training, you need to stay in training, you need to get some reps out there, and that’s exactly what he’s doing.”
‘Chito’ last fought on March 25, losing a close fight against Cory Sandhagen by split decision. The number six-ranked UFC bantamweight looks to get back on track by taking out whoever is put in front of him. Meanwhile, Cejudo wants to return ASAP, which has put his potential fight against the injured Merab Dvalshvili in question.
Daniel Cormier thinks Henry Cejudo is ‘too small’ for Alexander Volkanovski
Henry Cejudo has continuously discussed his goals to become a lifetime three-division UFC champion. He hoped to challenge the 145-pound king, Alexander Volkanovski, in his return fight, but the UFC brass wanted him to fight at bantamweight first.
Cejudo still hopes to become the UFC featherweight champion in the future. With that said, Daniel Cormier believes he would likely struggle against Volkanovski. ‘DC’ had this to say during the same YouTube video:
“What the fight with Aljo [Sterling] taught me was that Henry Cejudo should not be talking about Alexander Volkanovski. He’s too small because Aljo’s length caused him some issues and Volkanovski is an absolute monster and probably the best fighter in the world pound-for-pound.”
Volkanovski has solidified himself as the number two pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC rankings, only behind Jon Jones. ‘The Great’ is arguably the greatest UFC featherweight of all time, as he holds a promotional record of 12-0 in the division.
