Henry Cejudo isn’t interested in fighting unless there’s a specific goal in mind.
As he prepares to make his return against Song Yadong in the UFC Seattle main event, the Olympic gold medalist and former two-division UFC champion is still chasing another title run before he hangs up his gloves for good. While he understands there’s work to do off back-to-back losses in his past two appearances, Cejudo makes it clear that his only objective is becoming a champion again, and once that’s no longer viable for him, he’ll call it a career.
“100 percent [going for the title], that’s what it’s always about,” Cejudo told MMA Fighting. “If it wasn’t about that, for sure I wouldn’t be fighting.
“This is the last run. I’m making this last push, this last hurrah over here, and I just turned 38. Age is not a factor in it either, it’s my performances. Am I able to display my art inside of the octagon in front of 25,000 people? That’s where it gets real for me.”
Cejudo retired previously after he won and defended the UFC bantamweight title, but he eventually made his return three years later. He hasn’t found the same level of success since coming back with a split-decision loss to Aljamain Sterling and then falling to eventual 135-pound champion Merab Dvalishvili by decision back in February 2024.
Because those losses still lingered as he was preparing for his return to action, Cejudo knew he wasn’t in a position to pick and choose his opponents. So when the UFC came calling with Song as an opponent, the 38-year-old veteran knew he had no other option than saying yes.
“Once you’re not champion, and this is where champions get spoiled, we get a chance to talk and negotiate with not just purse but with fighters,” Cejudo explained. “This is who I want, this is what I think, but when you’re not champion, you’ve got to take what they give you and you can also refuse not to fight. You can also get shelfed. It’s all up to you.
“How is it and what is it that they’re going to give you, you just say yeah or you get shelfed. I think for me, I personally like the stylistic matchup with Song. I think he’s powerful, I think he’s really good. I think he’s explosive. He’s a counter puncher but I also see deficiencies, and I’m looking to expose that on Feb. 22.”
Cejudo admitted that at first he clashed with Hunter Campbell, the UFC’s chief business officer, about the matchup with Song, but he eventually realized this is clearly the fight the promotion wanted.
“You’ve got to take what they give you,” Cejudo said. “That’s all there is to it. If you want to fight, and I got into a little tussle with Hunter [Campbell] about it and I appreciated that. I appreciate sometimes firmness from the boss, and I just said all right, let’s do it.
“They said how many rounds? I said whatever you want boss, whatever you want. After a while, I was like give me five [rounds] with him. If I’m really going to chase this title, so then we got the main event.”
While Cejudo admits that reclaiming the bantamweight title is what means most to him, he can’t deny it would be extra special if that road traveled to a rematch against Dvalishvili.
Since beating Cejudo almost exactly one year ago, Dvalishvili went onto beat Sean O’Malley to win the title and then he defended the championship in a thrilling five-round affair against Umar Nurmagomedov.
Cejudo can’t say for certain how near or far another title shot might be, but he’ll be quietly rooting for Dvalishvili to hold onto the title until he gets there.
“100 percent. Hell yeah,” Cejudo said about fighting Dvalishvili for the title. “The best is winning but even better than winning is getting payback. Like revenge. So on top of winning, when you’re able to do that, you just prove to yourself a lot.
“I go back to Demetrious Johnson 1. I freaking lost the first fight in 2:38 and then came back and got it done. Yeah it was a split decision, yeah it was close, but just the fact that I was able to take myself from that 2:38 and then boom [got knocked out] and then winning that split decision, it just says that it means a lot to me.”
As much as he wants to win the title in an eventual rematch against Dvalishvili, Cejudo won’t diminish what the Georgian native has done during his current run at 135 pounds.
Dvalishvili has rattled off a remarkable 12 wins in a row, including victories over four former UFC champions along the way. Cejudo argues his most impressive win was taking out a young gun like Umar Nurmagomedov in his most recent performance at UFC 311 and that just added even more fuel to the fight to get back there to face Dvalishvili again.
“Merab is the real deal,” Cejudo said. “What he’s been able to do. I get it, you can beat all of us, myself, Yan, [Jose] Aldo but when you’re able to beat that new generation that’s supposed to be next and actually out compete him, because it’s not like Merab beat [Umar Nurmagomedov] up. Merab didn’t.
“Like if it was a fight [judged] as a whole, I would say Umar won the fight through damage. But because the fight is based on rounds, round three was a swing round but because of Merab’s showmanship and taunting the crowd, this is stuff that can pay dividends. It plays a huge role in your fighting, because you’re judged when the other person is just backing away, and you’re doing things like that, this is what the judges see. I felt like maybe round three he even stole and then obviously he won [rounds] four and five with the takedowns. I don’t feel so bad after losing to him.”
