Henry Cejudo is planning on retiring for the second time this weekend in Las Vegas.
Cejudo’s decision to make this his last fight was mocked, considering that he has done this in the past only to return several years later.
However, his three consecutive losses since coming back in 2023 have led many to believe that this would likely be the case regardless of the matchup that he received.
Fans were then surprised to see Cejudo get paired with Payton Talbott for his last dance, with this being a huge opportunity for the exciting unranked bantamweight.
There is one fight that has eluded ‘Triple C’ that he would still like to tick off the bucket list even if it means cutting another retirement short.
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Henry Cejudo wants to fight Brandon Moreno on Cinco de Mayo
After beating TJ Dillashaw to defend his flyweight title, Henry Cejudo made the decision to move up to bantamweight where he has remained ever since.
There was always one big matchup that would’ve likely seen one of the top names at 125-pounds move up to face ‘Triple C’ that didn’t happen.
However, if it did, Cejudo told MMA Fighting that it “would make perfect sense” for him to make another UFC return.
The former bantamweight and flyweight champion will share the card this Saturday at UFC 323 with Brandon Moreno, a fighter that he was once very close with.
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Their relationship spiraled following Moreno’s introduction to the UFC via ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, where he wasn’t picked to be a member of Cejudo’s team despite their friendship.
In 2023, Moreno called Cejudo out the day after he came up short when challenging for the bantamweight title, urging his former teammate to not retire so that they could “finish business”.
Cejudo said ahead of both men’s matchups on December 6 that he’d want to face the former champion on Cinco de Mayo while commenting on the fact that they could be sitting next to each other at this week’s press conference.
“I don’t know. I doubt it but it is what it is,” Cejudo told MMA Fighting. “This is some of the stuff that happens. It happened a long time ago. That’s also the beauty too… Sometimes that’s the way the journey is made. It’s not always a happy ending.”
Henry Cejudo’s coach says the UFC caused the rivalry with Brandon Moreno on purpose
Henry Cejudo’s coach, Eric Albarracin, believes that the UFC orchestrated the event that led to his falling out with Brandon Moreno as a way of punishing the former champ-champ.
It was ‘Triple C’ that convinced the promotion to put Moreno on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ in the first place.
However, due to the seeded nature of the bracket, when Cejudo selected top seed Alexandre Pantoja to join his team, it meant that his teammate had to join the opposing side.
“They planned it. If you’re putting your own guy in and kicking one of our guys out, you’re going to have to make a choice,” Albarracin theorized when appearing on The MMA Hour in 2023. “If you’re picking your best friend, the No. 1 seed goes to the other side. if you pick the No. 1 seed, Brandon goes to the other side. They planned it all along and they did it on purpose. UFC, they caused the beef. I know they did.”