Scoffing at Henry Cejudo’s Featherweight Talk? The Champ-Champ’s Coach Wants 145 Fight This Year…

Henry Cejudo now holds both the UFC’s flyweight and bantamweight belts, and it looks like the decorated fighter and his camp are indeed serious about adding the featherweight title to his resume…

Since Cejudo took out Marlon Moraes at UFC 238 last weekend to win the 135 title, the Olympic Gold Medal wrestler has been talking about fighting for the 145 belt as well. Now, chances are some fans have scoffed at the idea of Cejudo doing this, as he is the flyweight champ as well. Further, at 5’4 tall, there’s no question that Cejudo would give up a ton of height and reach to some of the UFC’s other featherweights. The reigning featherweight king Max Holloway is 5’11.

Well, since Cejudo’s historic win on Saturday, his coach Eric Albarracin spoke with Luke Thomas on Sirius XM. Not only did Albarracin outline why he believes a move to 145 is doable for Cejudo, he’s hoping it takes place inside of 2019 (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“. . .I like a New Year’s Eve date [for 145 pounds],” Albarracin said. “Why not? This guy puts on muscle faster than any athlete I’ve ever seen. If you saw his pictures this week, he’s almost 150 pounds and he’s ripped and shredded.”

“To me it’s the competition,” Albarracin said. “The body of work that he has done. To beat Demetrious Johnson, who had 11 straight world title defenses, to beat the greatest bantamweight of all time, and then to come in and beat the most dangerous bantamweight in the game right now, on one leg, that’s what it is. And, none of those guys got a gold medal. If you ask them, if you put Henry and Jon Jones and Khabib Nurmagomedov and DC [Daniel Cormeir] all in the same room, you could all ask them and I’ve seen them all in the room together and they all tell him he’s pound-for-pound.”

There you have it. Now, it’s an interesting idea and there’s no question a lot of fans would like to see if Cejudo could become the first ever champ-champ-champ. But, the chances of this happening, anytime soon anyways, seem very, very slim.

After UFC 238, Dana White said that Cejudo will be allowed to keep both the 125 and 135 titles. White also said, when asked about Cejudo’s comments regarding a move to 145, that the champ-champ needs to worry about those belts first.

Featherweight aside, it’s starting to look like Cejudo may not intend to defend the 125 belt again. He’s made comments about how the flyweight division just needs to be restructured, and that it has talented fighters like Joseph Benavidez. But, he hasn’t sounded too keen on the idea of cutting to 125 again.