Henry Cejudo States His Case to Become a ‘Triple Champ’ By Facing T.J. Dillashaw
Henry Cejudo is on a hunt for more gold.
After dethroning the longest reigning champion in UFC history won Saturday night, the former Olympic gold medalist is now seeking a third title to add to his trophy case.
Cejudo did what was seemingly impossible when he handed Demetrious Johnson a split decision loss at UFC 227 after “Mighty Mouse” had completed 11 title defenses as the only flyweight champion in company history.
While Cejudo says he’s open to a trilogy with Johnson given his incredible reign as champion, the 31-year old wrestler turned fighter has bigger goals on his mind — namely moving up to bantamweight and challenging champion T.J. Dillashaw.
“If you guys look at my fight, look at how much bigger I am than Demetrious Johnson. I was watching the highlights, I’m a tank. I can easily fill up into 135 pounds and feel good,” Cejudo said at the UFC 227 post fight press conference. “The other reason, too, they always talked about T.J. [Dillashaw] and D.J. super fight, they neglected Henry Cejudo in the promos. They neglected Henry Cejudo in practically everything and I get it. Cause America is all about winners and I get it. But now that I’m the winner, I’m asking.
“I’m an Olympic champ, I’m a UFC champ and now I’m asking to be a triple champ. Forget about the champ-champ. I want to be a triple champ. Allow me to go up to 135 pounds. Allow me to face T.J. Dillashaw. If he wants to come down, we can talk. I’d rather go up. I want to make history.”
Dillashaw seemed lukewarm to the idea on Saturday night saying he didn’t believe Cejudo deserved a shot at his title just yet but the UFC has put together several champion versus champion fights in recent years with more on the horizon.
Johnson also spoke at length about a potential LCL tear in his knee as well as possibly suffering a broken foot in his first defeat in nearly seven years. Those injuries could keep Johnson sidelined for the immediate future, which may open the door to Cejudo moving up to bantamweight.
It’s impossible to know right now if it will happen, but Cejudo isn’t shying away from his request to challenge for the bantamweight title now that he’s wrestled the flyweight belt away from Johnson at UFC 227.
