Demetrious Johnson Reacts To Henry Cejudo’s Retirement
Demetrious Johnson has nothing but appreciation for his formal rival Henry Cejudo, who announced his retirement out of the blue at UFC 249, after defending his bantamweight title against the former champion, Dominick Cruz.
Having lost their his encounter to ‘Mighty Mouse’ via a first round TKO at UFC 197, ‘Triple C’ came out victorious in their rematch at UFC 227. Cejudo recently stated that defeating Johnson to win the UFC flyweight title was a “defining moment in his MMA career”.
Speaking to MMA Junkie, Johnson gave his thoughts on Cejudo’s recent comments.
“That was awesome that Henry Cejudo said that,” Johnson said. “I’ve never had anything bad to say about Henry, I think he’s hilarious with the whole ‘Triple C.’ You can’t deny that man, flyweight champ, bantamweight champ and let me remind you, he’s got a gold medal too, so yeah, I think him beating me was a big thing in his career, especially that he sees me as one of the greatest of all time and for him to say that it’s awesome.
“If he wants to start the next chapter in his life, have kids and get married and keep on whatever follows that, that’s fantastic. I do nothing but support him.”
Cejudo’s announcement about his retirement was a shock for the MMA world, at only 33 years old and in his prime. But Johnson believes that even if he does retire, he has already done enough in his career.
“If Henry Cejudo retires I think he’s had a phenomenal mixed martial arts career,” Johnson said. “I understand what he means by going out on top and he doesn’t want nobody to take that away from him because if somebody comes and beats him then everybody will look back at his career and say ‘Oh he didn’t do nothing great’ but that’s only if he allows people to take that away from him.
“Only time will tell if he really is retiring. It could be a money ploy, it could be a tactic for renegotiating but if he retires he retires if he doesn’t, I mean he’s still young, he’s only 32 (almost, 33) years old.”
Perhaps if he’s looking for a new challenge, we may see Cejudo sign with ONE Championship and face Demetrious Johnson in a rubber match.
Do you think we’ll see Henry Cejudo fight again?
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