Henry Cejudo has clapped back at Dana White after the UFC President offered a controversial take on his title aspirations.
Cejudo (16-2 MMA), a former two-division UFC champion, retired from mixed martial arts after defending his bantamweight title against Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 in May of 2020.
However, after Max Holloway was forced to withdraw from his scheduled trilogy fight with Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 272, ‘Triple C’ quickly offered up his services to Dana White and company.
“Hey @danawhite give me a shot at Alex. I would never cancel. I’m Mexican and we don’t believe in pulling out of anything.”
Despite Cejudo’s obvious interest, Dana White and company ultimately gave the featherweight title shot to The Korean Zombie. The UFC President offered the following explanation to BT Sport.
“I can tell you this: The ‘Korean Zombie’ (Chan Sung Jung) has been here fighting,” White said. “This guy’s retired. He’s been off for how many years now, and he wants to come in and fight Alexander Volkanovski? You’ve got guys like the Zombie, Josh Emmett, Giga (Chikadze) who’s fighting this weekend. You’ve got these guys that are in here doing it three times a year and working their way up. For Cejudo to retire and then just think he should be able to come in and jump into any weight division and take on the champion, it’s not how it works.”
Those remarks did not sit well with Henry Cejudo, who quickly reminded Dana White that he had previously done something similar with Georges St-Pierre.
https://twitter.com/HenryCejudo/status/1482029715749842947
“No crown. No cringe. No gimmick. Just facts… I told @AliAbdelaziz00 ‘make this fight happen’. This isn’t a GSP situation, I’d defend the belt. The UFC & Dana White don’t want to give me a chance to make history. Dana is scared. It’s a monopoly.”
So if I had blonde hair and blue eyes or if I was a Canadian with a accent,maybe you would give it to me? I defend both my belts unlike GPS. I left on top and retired on that Monday to give the rest of the division’S a chance. You are plain out scared that I will win.@danawhite pic.twitter.com/nlLyNwi1ne
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) January 14, 2022
“So if I had blonde hair and blue eyes or if I was a Canadian with a accent, maybe you would give it to me? I defend both my belts unlike GPS. I left on top and retired on that Monday to give the rest of the division’s a chance. You are plain out scared that I will win. @danawhite.”
What do you think of Henry Cejudo’s response to Dana White?