As the fastest growing combat sports promotion on the planet, the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) wastes no time keeping its cogs of the well-oiled machine turning. Since the departure of their double-champ, they’ve effortlessly resumed business as usual.
However, the 125 and 135lb divisions haven’t been the same without the Arizona representative, as he provided an elite two-division status and an Olympic pedigree, in addition to a love him or hate-him personality.
I don’t know about you, but aside from Cejudo’s well-rounded skill set, I miss his WWE esk promos, where he’d taken on a persona of the cringiest mic-man in the company.
Following Cejudo’s departure from active competition, he’s naturally continued the cringe on social media, never forgetting to remind the lower-weight classes of those who once dominated the lighter-weight divisions. And whilst we’ve witnessed multiple callouts and dream matchups surface online, Cejudo had never officially announced a return from his “retirement”. That was until 2022, after he met with the UFC.
For the longest time, we’ve watched Cejudo tease his return as fans have eagerly waited to see whether or not his return to MMA would surface. Triple C walked away from the sport in 2020 after his successful outing versus Dominick Cruz, retaining the bantamweight strap in the process.
A 10-2 record whilst competing under the UFC banner saw Cejudo lift two championships, being recognized as one of the best to lace up the 4-6oz fingerless gloves. He’s long represented Phoenix, Arizona, as his second home due to his training locations, and the Arizona locals supporting him in return have reaped the rewards.
Avid sports bettors backing Cejudo would have lost a mere 2 bets from 12 UFC bouts. The ten sets of winning odds were -220, -750, -1200, -550, -450, -300, +380, +200, +135, -225.
These betting odds tell a story, as the bookmakers heavily supported the former Olympic champion during his early tenure in the UFC versus a lower level of competition. However, once he breached the top-10 rankings of both flyweight and bantamweight divisions, you’ll notice the available betting value skyrocket into the plus-money range. I believe this has assisted Cejudo’s confidence as he was regularly underestimated until he became a two-division champion. Arizona sports betting has thrived for bettors backing Cejudo, particularly during the 6-fight win streak he ended his career on.
Aged 33 during the time of his retirement, seemingly at the peak of his career, didn’t make much sense. But we shouldn’t overthink the situation as he’s gone on to become an incredible coaching mind whilst supporting some of the biggest names in the UFC today.
After years of teasing a comeback (and other fighters), Cejudo announced he’d re-enter the USADA testing pool, and a return to the octagon was pending.
In a recent episode of his own podcast with the Schmo, the former double-champ
on his progression to stepping back in the cage.
“I think there are two weight classes that are really open, and I want to take a stab at either one of them. There’s T.J. [Dillashaw], there’s Aljalame [Sterling], there’s [Max] Holloway, and [Alexander] Volkanovski. The terrain is pretty nice, man; I’m sitting in a pretty good position right now. We talked over dinner; we were there for a couple of hours because we had a lot to talk about. To say the least, it was a great meeting.”
Cejudo continued: “35 or 45, many of those decisions aren’t made yet. I want to see what will end up happening, but they love the comeback. They want me back; they would never have dinner with me if they didn’t want me back. I think I’d love to meet with Dana White for my next meeting.”
Cejudo’s return opponent?
At the time of writing, Aljamain Sterling and Alexander Volkanovski are the bantamweight and featherweight champions, respectively. Both fighters have been on Cejudo’s hit list, and the Arizona local does boast a legacy significant enough to return straight into a championship bout.
To me, one of these aforementioned titleholders would make the most sense; I can’t envision Cejudo returning for anything other than a big-name fight and a potential to lift gold yet again.
With that said, Sterling isn’t likely to compete for six months, and Volkanovski is scheduled to fight Max Holloway at UFC 276. A return for Cejudo is likely, but he may have to reconsider his options should he want to compete by October 2022.