UFC bantamweight champ Henry Cejudo is days out from a title defense opposite the former champ Dominick Cruz. Beyond that he has his sights set on former featherweight champ Jose Aldo.

Speaking on Tuesday’s UFC 249 conference call, Cejudo explained why Cruz and Aldo are the top of his list.

“Dominick was my first choice, since the beginning I wanted to fight (him),” Cejudo said (via MMA Junkie). “I thought it was a great storyline — we’re both from Arizona, he’s a great champ, I beat the No. 1 contender Marlon Moraes, and there was really not a concrete No. 1 contender after I beat Moraes.

“My original plan was to fight him, but then I saw the fact that Jose Aldo did a good job with Marlon Moraes, who was the No. 1 contender. I went with Aldo, but I told Dominick, Dominick should stay on the lines because if anything happens, you’re the guy that I want next. And it just turned out to be that Jose Aldo couldn’t get a visa and that allowed Dominick Cruz to get back in. But he was always part of the plan and now we’re going to scrap.”

Cejudo’s focus on fighters like Cruz and Aldo has not gone over well with streaking bantamweight contenders like Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan. According to Cejudo, however, neither of these men actually deserve title shots at this point.

“Wait for their chance, wait for the king to tell them to bend the knee,” Cejudo said. “Aljamain Sterling got knocked out by a guy that I knocked out, so wait in line. And Peter Yan needs to learn better English. He absolutely sucks and you can’t beat a 41-year-old and expect a title shot – that’s just ridiculous. I rather fight someone who hasn’t fight in four years.”

What do you think of these comments from Henry Cejudo?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 5/6/2020.