Chael Sonnen theorizes that Henry Cejudo didn’t retire after losing to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288 because a delay in getting him the microphone for his post-fight interview allowed him to reconsider his decision.
Chael Sonnen has an interesting theory about why Henry Cejudo did not retire after losing to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288. The three-time UFC title challenger and MMA broadcaster believes that a staredown and near-melee between Sterling, bantamweight contender Sean O’Malley, and Sterling teammate Merab Dvalishvili gave Cejudo time to reconsider going back into retirement. “He was going to retire,” said Sonnen. “He took the gloves off — in that moment, he was retired. They took too long to get to him.”
“Between him deciding he was going to retire and then finally getting to him — and imagine being Henry, you’re in the ring, your heart’s broken, your glove’s in your hand. You’re gonna throw them down, and you’re gonna walk away, the right way. Not the way you did it last time, you regret the way you did it last time, with a pipe bomb. You’re gonna actually say and have the ceremony,” Sonnen explained. However, as Cejudo watched the three top-ranked guys in his weight class, he changed his mind. “If I walk away, they take everything. If I stay, they don’t.”
Order was eventually restored between Sterling, O’Malley, and Dvalishvili, and UFC commentator Joe Rogan interviewed a glove-less Cejudo. The former two-division champ wrestled with the question of what was next for his career. “It’s like Ricky Bobby, if I’m not first, I’m last,” Cejudo said. “If I can’t beat Aljo — my biggest goal was to go up to 145 pounds, and if I can’t get the victory over [Sterling], then I just don’t know where that puts me.” Cejudo continued to question his future at the post-event press conference for UFC 288, but on Monday, he reversed course, calling out Dvalishvili for a fight that the Georgian fighter quickly accepted.
Sonnen sees no reason why Cejudo shouldn’t continue fighting, as an official judge on that Saturday had even given him a score of 48-47 against Sterling. “I mean, an official judge on Saturday said he’s the baddest dude in the world,” said Sonnen. “I don’t think that was the best Henry we’ve seen. I thought he dug really deep. I thought he worked really hard. I thought he got really fatigued about 15 minutes in, but pushed it out anyway. And there was nothing there that I saw from a physicality standpoint that says retire. I will just share with you because it’s fun to do, when he took those gloves off, he was done. It took too long to get him the mic. He changed his mind.”