Daniel Cormier thinks Henry Cejudo’s focus should remain on bantamweight.
Cejudo (16-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) had plans of reclaiming his 135-pound title, then moving up a weight class to challenge featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. However, those plans were derailed when he lost to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288 in May.
Cormier seemed to confirm the rumblings of a matchup between Cejudo and Marlon Vera at UFC 292 on Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston – on the same card as Sterling’s next title defense against Sean O’Malley.
“Henry Cejudo is gonna fight in Boston in August against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “Here’s the thing that’s weird for me: He was asking for another title fight because he thought maybe Aljamin Sterling, who Dana bought a Lamborghini for, was not gonna fight against Sean O’Malley. Well, they’re fighting. So he said, what matters to him is it’s 15 years to the day that he won the Olympic gold medal.”
Cormier said the loss to Sterling (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) proved that former flyweight and bantamweight champ Cejudo doesn’t have the size to hang at featherweight.
“Henry is putting himself in a really good position to try to have an opportunity to become a champion again,” Cormier said. “What the fight with Aljo (Sterling) taught me was that Henry Cejudo should not be talking about Alexander Volkanovski. He’s too small because Aljo’s length caused him some issues, and Volkanovski is an absolute monster and probably the best fighter in the world pound-for-pound.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.
