Former UFC flyweight champion Henry Cejudo has made his pick for the upcoming title fight between current champ Deiveson Figueiredo and challenger Brandon Moreno.
Henry Cejudo captured the UFC flyweight title with a controversial split decision defeat of of Demetrious Johnson in August, 2018. After defending the title with a knockout of TJ Dillashaw in January 2019, he then ventured up to bantamweight, where he captured the vacant title with a defeat of Marlon Moraes, and retired after defending the belt against Dominick Cruz.
Despite his retirement, and the fact that he hasn’t fought at flyweight in close to two years, Cejudo still claims to be the division’s true champion, and regularly targets the division’s top fighters—particularly the new champ Figueiredo—with his patented trash talk.
Speaking to The Schmo over the weekend, Cejudo once again took a dig at Figueiredo, referring to him as a “babysitter” for the flyweight belt—but conceding he’s doing well in that role.
“The only reason why Deiveson Figueiredo’s there is because of me,” Cejudo said (via MMA Fighting). “To me, he’s the lord of nothing. I’m the one that gave him that position. I’m allowing him to babysit my belt and he’s being a pretty good babysitter in my eyes.”
Cejudo then weighed in on Figueiredo’s upcoming title defense against Moreno, scheduled for UFC 256 on December 12, predicting that the champion will be dethroned because of the mistakes he makes in the cage—which would register as a significant upset.
“Every time I watch the fights I just look at things the fighters are doing wrong and when I see that, even with Deiveson, this is why I think he’s gonna have a hard time and may potentially even lose to Brandon Moreno,” Cejudo said. “All you have to do with a guy like Deiveson Figueiredo is make him grapple for that first round because he’s cutting a lot of weight. By the time that second, third round hits he’s gonna start having that heavy muscle. So I’m actually gonna pick Brandon Moreno — which, he sucks too — but I’m gonna pick him to beat Deiveson Figueiredo.”
What do you think of this prediction from Henry Cejudo?