Sean O'Malley thinks Henry Cejudo’s decision to retire backfired.
Cejudo (16-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) hung up his gloves in May 2020 after he retained his UFC bantamweight title against Dominick Cruz. However, he decided to come out of retirement two years later and O’Malley sees it as a negotiation ploy that failed.
Now former dual-champion Cejudo is looking to reclaim the 135-pound title he never lost. He suggested an interim title fight with O’Malley (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC), but O’Malley thinks fighting Marlon Vera would be a more lucrative option.
“Me vs. ‘Chito’ is a lot bigger than me vs. Henry,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel. “It’s weird, being all the accolades he has: He’s not a draw, and that’s the reason he left. He wasn’t getting paid what he ‘deserved,’ so he thought maybe he would leave and the UFC would want him back – and they didn’t, so now he kind of shot himself in the foot.
“Me vs. ‘Chito’ is a bigger fight. Me vs. Cory Sandhagen’s a bigger fight. Me vs. this coffee cup would probably be a little bit bigger fight. But yeah, I’m super curious where this division’s going to go.”
O’Malley jumped to the No. 1 spot in the UFC’s bantamweight rankings after he edged out former champion Petr Yan at UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi. The idea of an interim title surfaced after reigning bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling told MMA Junkie that he’s targeting a return in June 2023.
