LAS VEGAS – Henry Cejudo continues to call for a UFC title shot but promotion president Dana White doesn’t get it.
Following UFC on ESPN 32, the promotion’s first event of the year which took place Saturday, White responded to recent claims by Cejudo in an MMA Junkie interview that the promotion was low-balling him for a title fight against champion Alexander Volkanovski.
“Isn’t that guy retired?” White told MMA Junkie at a post-fight news conference at the UFC Apex. “He’s retired, isn’t he? I mean, the last time I saw him, he’s retired. And now he’s mad that he didn’t get a title shot? It doesn’t even make sense. In a different weight class? It doesn’t make sense.”
White seems to have a number of issues with Cejudo’s call for a title shot at featherweight, one weight class above the heaviest division he competed in during his UFC stint. White indicated he’d expect Cejudo to compete for the title in his own division before making any shifts into new weight classes.
“Yeah, so I should’ve jumped over everybody and gave it to him because all of a sudden last week he decided he isn’t retired?” White said. “Come on, man. This is a f*cking silly conversation. Silly. If he wants to come back and try to win the title again in his weight class and then talk about moving up or doing something else, (that’s one thing). But you don’t just f*cking pop up and start calling somebody names and think that you’re going to get a title shot in a different weight class when you’ve been retired for, what, two and a half years?”
In addition to White’s gripes, UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell informed MMA Junkie on Saturday that Cejudo is not in the USADA testing pool. That means Cejudo is not eligible to compete in a short-notice fight at this time.
Cejudo, 34, has not competed since May 2020 when he retired after a successful title defense against Dominick Cruz.
UFC on ESPN 32 took place Saturday. The main card aired on ESPN after prelims on ESPN/ESPN+.
