The King of Cringe is coming back to the UFC. Former two-division world champion and Olympic Gold Medalist Henry Cejudo (16-2) is jumping back into the USADA drug testing pool today with intentions to return to the octagon.
Cejudo’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, broke the news to ESPN last night. Triple C will enter the drug testing pool today. The former champion will have to be tested for the mandatory six month period prior to returning to the octagon. With the required waiting period, we should see Cejudo back in the UFC towards the end of the year.
The last time that Cejudo was in the octagon was in 2020. Cejudo defended his bantamweight title against Dominick Cruz at UFC 249. Triple C scored a second round TKO in his first defense of his bantamweight title.
After the fight was over, Cejudo announced that he was retiring. It took everyone by surprise seeing as Cejudo hadn’t hinted at retirement prior. However, Cejudo later revealed that he retired because he climbed to the top of the UFC mountain and he didn’t feel like he was getting paid what he was worth.
UFC Weight Class Decision
Now, the question becomes which weight class will Cejudo fight in when he returns to the UFC. The only weight class that we know for sure is off the table is flyweight. Cejudo will never make that cut again so he’s looking at returning to either bantamweight or featherweight.
Either weight class will likely see him step into an immediate UFC title shot. Now, I really do believe that Cejudo could step right back in and become the bantamweight champion. Given the styles, I really don’t think Aljamain Sterling could defeat Cejudo and we’ve already seen Cejudo knock out TJ Dillashaw.
The real intrigue is whether or not Cejudo will jump right into the UFC’s featherweight division. He’s expressed interest in fighting Alexander Volkanovski and Cejudo wants to become the first man to win a UFC title in three different weight classes.
Personally, I think he will first come back to the bantamweight division and fight for the title. Should he win that fight, I think Cejudo would like the idea of fighting the featherweight champion sometime early next year in a champion versus champion matchup.