Dana White Won’t Entertain Henry Cejudo’s ‘Silly’ Featherweight Title Request
Dana White is confused by Henry Cejudo’s calls for a featherweight title shot.
The former dual-weight UFC champion has been retired since beating Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 in 2020 and is not currently in the USADA testing pool.
Despite that, Cejudo has been calling for a shot at the 145lb king Alexander Volkanovski for some time now. ‘Triple C’ was one of the first fighters to put his hand up for a short noticed bout with Volkanovski who was temporarily left without a dance partner after Max Holloway withdrew from their trilogy fight due to injury.
The promotion ultimately ended up moving Volkanovski’s fight from UFC 272 to UFC 273 and matching him against long-time contender ‘The Korean Zombie’.
Upon hearing the news of Volkanovski vs. ‘The Korean Zombie’, Cejudo took to social media to accuse the Aussie fighter of ducking him.
During the UFC Vegas 46 post-fight press conference, White reacted to Cejudo’s calls for a featherweight title shot and seemed confused by the Olympic gold medallist’s frustration at being overlooked.
“Isn’t that guy retired?” White said. “He’s retired, isn’t he? I mean, the last time I saw him, he’s retired. And now he’s mad that he didn’t get a title shot? It doesn’t even make sense. In a different weight class? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Yeah, so I should’ve jumped over everybody and gave it to him because all of a sudden last week he decided he isn’t retired?” White added. “Come on, man. This is a f*cking silly conversation. Silly. If he wants to come back and try to win the title again in his weight class and then talk about moving up or doing something else, (that’s one thing). But you don’t just f*cking pop up and start calling somebody names and think that you’re going to get a title shot in a different weight class when you’ve been retired for, what, two and a half years?” (Transcribed by MMA Junkie)
Henry Cejudo Responds To Dana White’s Comments
Cejudo saw what White had to say about him on Saturday night and immediately fired back at the UFC boss. ‘Triple C’ claimed to be rejuvenated after his break from MMA while also suggesting Conor McGregor would be granted this wish by the UFC.
“Dana, I needed a break.” Cejudo wrote on Twitter. “Honestly, it was getting boring beating up TJ Pillashaw in under a minute and Dominick Snooze in 2. I got married, had a kid and am now rejuvenated. I wanna be 4C. If I beat up an old guy at a bar and learn how to Riverdance will you give me a shot?”
Do you think it would be fair for Dana White to grant Henry Cejudo an immediate shot at the featherweight title?
