Henry Cejudo will return to action later this year to defend his bantamweight title against ex-featherweight champ, Jose Aldo.
The Olympic gold medalist is currently on the sidelines as he recovers from a shoulder injury he sustained in a title showdown against Marlon Moraes in June 2019.
In that said fight, Cejudo made history after winning the vacant bantamweight strap as he became the fourth simultaneous two-division champion in the UFC, joining the ranks of Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, and Amanda Nunes.
In December 2019, he decided to relinquish one of his titles as the UFC booked Deiveson Figueiredo and Joseph Benavidez to fight for the flyweight belt.
On May 9, ‘Triple C’ will try to retain his bantamweight championship against Aldo in the main event of UFC 250 at Ginasio do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as per UFC president Dana White.
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Daddy’s Coming Home
The bantamweight champ has called out Aldo, following the veteran’s split decision loss in December, saying he is now part of the ‘Cejudo sweepstakes.’
Revealing his plans for his Octagon return, Cejudo picked Aldo as his next opponent over the ‘brittle’ Dominick Cruz.
“So upon my return, I really did want to fight Dominick Cruz but I thought about it and he’s too brittle. If I was to tell Dominick Cruz to bend the knee, he’d pop his damn neck out,” he said.
“But actually I’m not here to talk about Dominick. I’m here to talk about Jose “Waldo.””
“I want to give him a clap at his last performance because a lot of people thought he won.”
“I want to congratulate him because now he’s part of the Henry Cejudo sweepstakes but it’s under my terms. I want to fight him in my city. Rio de Janeiro.”
“Daddy’s coming home. Dana White, let’s sign that contract.”
Title Hunt
Aldo is regarded as one of the greatest featherweights in UFC history, having defended his title for eight straight times before Max Holloway dethroned him in 2017.
He recently moved down to 135 pounds but lost his debut against Moraes by way of split decision.
Many, inlcuding the UFC president, believed Aldo did enough to win the bantamweight contest.
“I do (think Aldo won). Yeah, he won the fight. Listen, you can’t win a fight running backwards for two rounds. It just doesn’t work that way. I don’t know what the f*** those judges were watching. To give that to Marlon was crazy. But, he won it.”
The outspoken head honcho also shared Cejudo was really interesting in fighting the featherweight legend.
“Cejudo hit me up tonight and said, ‘Jose Aldo absolutely won that fight and I think that you should treat him like you won that fight.’ He said, ‘I want Jose Aldo.’ I said, ‘awesome.’ I don’t know, we’ll see (if Aldo gets the title fight coming off a loss).”
(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Jose Aldo and Henry Cejudo)