Henry Cejudo managed to win an Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling, UFC flyweight championship and UFC bantamweight championship. But in spite of all that Cejudo really struggled to get paid in UFC.
Recently he even got political and backed Kari Lake in the Midterm elections. While he was campaigning for Lake, Cejudo was quoted saying:
“As a son of Mexican immigrants. You know, there’s one thing that my mom always told me, because she did come from Mexico. So did my father. And she’s always instilled those American values in me. I mean, she always would tell me, like, Henry, you are an American. Henry. Henry, the word is Americano. And to me, that to me as a little boy, I’d never really understood that.”
“I never really had a chance to go where she was from, seeing the wars and seeing the poverty, seeing what socialism or whatever you want to call it.”
“And you guys will never see me, as much as I love my culture, you guys will never see me with the Mexican flag, because this, this country, has given me so much”
Aljamain Sterling recently disputed Henry Cejudo’s claim of never having competed under the Mexican flag.
UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, tweeted:
“The biggest fraud to ever win a UFC title 🤣 Own who you are. Don’t be a scumbag!”
Sterling seemingly responded to a video of Cejudo during a political event.
Lake would go on to lose, however the clip would be ridiculed online with MMA fans sending Cejudo pics of himself with a Mexican flag.
Cejudo is of Mexican descent, and his statement got quite a bit of backlash from fans after his hypocrisy was exposed.
He eventually broke his silence and addressing the issue on a live Q&A.
“I’m Mexican-American or American-Latino – however the hell you wanna call it. I got a bunch of stuff for, saying… You know what I mean, I’m American and I think people need to realize the fact that, you know, I am American with Mexican descent. Doesn’t mean I’m a sellout. It just means I love my country this much.”
Henry Cejudo retired back in 2020, wanting to focus on his family. He’s since reconsidered and it seems like UFC brass is finally warming up to the idea of Cejudo coming back.
He is in talks to face Aljamain Sterling at UFC 284 in February.
Dana White has also told reporters that Henry Cejudo had expressed his desire to fight and has been in the USADA testing pool for over six months making him eligible to fight.
The Dominance MMA CEO told The Underground’s John Morgan:
“Aljo is fighting Henry Cejudo, it’s done. It’s done, the UFC said it’s done. He knows it’s done, and I understand he wants a different fight. But, the man never lost his belt. He’s a two-time champion, defended both belts, and he left on his own. He didn’t leave because he lost, or he was injured, he just needed time off.”