Henry Cejudo and Merab Dvalishvili will fight early next year, with a UFC bantamweight title shot potentially on the line.
On May 6, Cejudo came up short against then-bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling following a three-year-layoff. In the aftermath of UFC 288, ‘Triple C’ assured fans he wasn’t giving up on his hopes of regaining UFC gold.
Cejudo called out Merab Dvalishvili, who was recovering from hand surgery, for a potential number-one contender fight. Seven months later, the former two-division UFC champion has officially been granted his request.
Earlier today, ‘Triple C’ announced he is booked to fight Dvalishvili on February 17 during the UFC 298 main card, which goes down in Anaheim, California. Cejudo revealed the news by saying this during a video posted on his YouTube channel:
“So, the cat is officially out the bag. Yep, that’s right, I’m going to be fighting Merab Dvalshvili on February 17th, UFC 298. We all saw this stuff coming. This fight is going to decide who that actually going to fight for the eventual winner of Chito Vera vs. Sean O’Malley…I’m not sure if we’re going to co-headline this fight with Ilia Topuria and Alexander Volkanovski.”
Watch Henry Cejudo’s fight announcement video below:
Henry Cejudo has begun training camp by working with Amir Albazi
On February 24, Amir Albazi will face Brandon Moreno in a number one contender fight in the flyweight division.
Albazi began his preparations by training with Henry Cejudo. ‘The Prince’ is benefiting from Cejudo’s knowledge about Moreno, but ‘Triple C’ is also utilizing the time to prepare for his upcoming fight.
During the previously mentioned fight announcement video, Cejudo had this to say about Albazi helping him prepare for Merab Dvalshvili:
“This fight is absolutely going to be bonkers. So, Triple C is excited. I’m getting prepared right now. I have Amir Albazi, who’s actually helping me, who’s actually about the same height as Merab Dvalshivili.”
Merab Dvalishvili made his UFC debut in December 2017 and lost his first two fights in the Octagon.
Since then, he’s separated himself as a legitimate title contender in the stacked bantamweight division with ten consecutive wins, including his latest on March 11, a unanimous decision win against Petr Yan.
