Current MMA

Former undisputed UFC bantamweight and flyweight champion, Henry Cejudo has revealed that a potential return to the UFC has continually failed to come to fruition due to an issue with financial terms with the organization, claiming its president, Dana White has no interest in compensating Cejudo what he feels he deserves. 

Retiring from professional mixed martial arts back in May 2020 at UFC 249, Cejudo ended his stint with the promotion in the midst of a six-fight winning run – most recently stopping Dominick Cruz with strikes to defend his bantamweight crown.

Cejudo, an Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling to boot, has flirted with a return to the sport since his retirement – welcoming title showdowns with then-flyweight best, Deiveson Figueiredo, as well as bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling.

As recent as last week, Cejudo also offered to fight Alexander Volkanovski in a featherweight title fight on short notice after originally targeted opponent, Max Holloway withdrew from a targeted UFC 272 trilogy bout on March 5.

However, the promotion elected to pit Volkanovski against the #4 ranked contender, Chan Sung Jung for an April 9. title defense at UFC 273. 

Commenting on why a return to the UFC seems to continually falter, Cejudo bluntly explained that White simply only wants to pay him “peanuts” to fight again.

“They (the UFC) don’t want to pay, man,” Henry Cejudo told MMA Junkie. “It’s plain and simple. They don’t want to pay. Dana (White) doesn’t want to pay – (if) they pay me, they got to pay the rest. And I’m out here. I’m not here to say to star a (fighters) union. What I’m here to say is like, ‘Hey, man, everybody should be compensated individually.’ The guys are going to sell the fight, the guys that are proven, like me. You know what I’m saying? So that’s plain and simple. Dana would love to see the fight (with Alexander Volkanovski), but he wants to pay me peanuts in comparison to what I really deserve. I respect the man because it’s his business, what he’s able to do to take this company to a two-billion-dollar company to what it’s worth now seven (to) nine billion and I can’t get a raise. That just seems a little off to me, man.” 

Cejudo then questioned if the likes of former two-weight champion, Conor McGregor, and former two-time welterweight title challenger, Jorge Masvidal are promoting themselves to the extent he is, why can’t he secure himself fair and just compensation from White and the UFC.

“… if Conor McGregor is making money and getting paid, and Jorge Masvidal. They’re doing what they’re doing and they’re getting paid more than me and I got two belts and I’m doing the exact same sh*t and I’m not getting compensated, then you know what?” Henry Cejudo said. “F*ck you, too.”

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