Sean O’Malley believes Henry Cejudo is only ending his retirement because he’s broke.

Cejudo retired following his TKO win over Dominick Cruz at UFC 249. It marked the first title defense of his bantamweight title but also his final Octagon appearance. When he retired, many thought he would eventually come back, but ‘Triple C’ appeared set on his retirement. That was until recently, as the former Olympian re-entered the USADA testing pool.

As Cejudo is getting closer to a return, he has called out Sean O’Malley for an interim title fight, this due to Aljamain Sterling wanting some time off. Yet, ‘Suga’ doesn’t seem too interested in the bout as he says Cejudo is only fighting because he has $37 in his bank.

“I heard from someone close to Henry that he’s got like $37 in the bank and he’s literally doing anything to try and book a fight and get some money,” O’Malley said on The MMA Hour. “I don’t know Henry’s like opening main card, co-main event dude. Even if him and Aljo go fight it’ll be a co-main event on some card. I feel like every time we talk about this guy, it’s like is he actually coming back? Ya know? I don’t know, I don’t put much thought into that.”

If Cejudo does return, a fight against O’Malley would be massive and would determine the next bantamweight title challenger. Yet, ‘Suga’ believes he deserves to fight for the undisputed title next time out after he beat Petr Yan at UFC 280.

Sean O’Malley (16-1 and one No Contest) is coming off the split-decision victory over Yan. Prior to that, he had the No Contest against Pedro Munhoz. ‘Suga’ had his first fight in the UFC back in 2017. In his career, he has notable wins over Raulian Paiva, Thomas Almeida, and Eddie Wineland. His lone loss came by TKO to Marlon Vera.

What do you make of Sean O’Malley claiming Henry Cejudo is broke?