Henry Cejudo continues to come out of his shell.
The UFC flyweight champion, who will battle Marlon Moraes for the vacant bantamweight strap in the UFC 238 main event this Saturday, showed up to Thursday’s media day dressed in a crown and cape, with plenty of other props to boot.
First, he once again pretended to kill a toy snake, an homage to his recent knockout of TJ Dillashaw. Then, he pulled a stuffed rabbit out of a hat, and “killed” that too, sending it hurtling into the crowd with a kick. That, it seemed was a little dig at Moraes, who fights with the nickname “Magic.” Get it?
“This is all a joke, huh?” Henry Cejudo said as Marlon Moraes snickered at his get-up. “Yeah, we’ll see Saturday.”
“Sorry, Mam,” UFC President Dana White said as Cejudo’s vanquished toy snake evidently collided with a woman in the crowd. “Sorry, Sir,” he added, when Cejudo’s plush bunny made a impact with a man somewhere off camera.
See it above (h/t MMA Fighting).
Henry Cejudo has definitely been developing a bit of a gimmick lately. It’s difficult to say where exactly it’s all come from, but his coach Eric Albarracin recently noted that the flyweight champ received some advice from MMA’s infamous showman Chael Sonnen. Perhaps that’s the source of all of this.
“I said ‘let’s call him up, let’s call up Chael. If you’re going to get advice, get it from an expert,’” Albarracin said, explaining Henry Cejudo and Chael Sonnen first got in touch. “We called him up, they ended up speaking and going on [Sonnen’s] show when he went to Australia. He did like 30 minutes with him. Chael has been a big influence on Henry as far as him becoming himself.
“This was before [Cejudo] beat Demetrious [Johnson], yeah, before he beat Demetrious,” the coach added. “That’s when I said ‘let’s call him up, let’s get some advice from him.’ So that’s what we did.”
What do you think of the costume Henry Cejudo wore today?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 6/6/2019.