Aljamain Sterling Says Henry Cejudo’s Gone From “Triple Champ” to “Triple Chump”

After Henry Cejudo became another champ-champ in the UFC, the decorated wrestler began calling himself “Triple C”, and not occasionally either. In addition, over the last couple of years, Cejudo has ramped up the self-promotional rhetoric and trash talk.

Well, recently bantamweight contender Aljamain Sterling outlined why in his mind, “Triple C” is now a “Triple Chump”.

Sterling lights up Cejudo

As this is being written, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Cejudo is still booked to fight Jose Aldo at UFC 250, May 9th. It’s a match-up that Cejudo pursued, despite the fact that Aldo officially lost to Marlon Moraes in December.

While Aldo is a legend, one of the greatest featherweights of all-time, Cejudo’s push for the contest didn’t sit well with everyone, including some of the UFC’s top bantamweights.

More recently, Cejudo has called for a bout with Dominick Cruz, if the headliner for UFC 250 is impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Case in point, while talking to MMA Junkie recently, Sterling had this to say about the bantamweight champ and his recent callout of Cruz.

“Henry Cejudo is the first man I’ve seen go from ‘Triple Champ’ to ‘Triple Chump’ all in the blink of an eye,” Sterling said. “There are no boundaries on what this guy is going to say next.

Now he’s calling out a guy who hasn’t fought and is coming off a very lopsided fight loss back in December 2016. He has two viable contenders.

I wouldn’t even be mad if they pulled Petr Yan and gave Petr Yan the title fight over me.”

“…It’s a little bit of a gimmick and a little bit of seriousness,” Sterling said. “I understand him saying, ‘I think I deserve to choose and pick who I want to fight.’

Alright, pick and choose who you want to fight out of the top contenders. (Don’t) pick and choose people coming off the couch.

That is a big difference in your obligations to the fans. Give the fans the top contender fights they want to see. They want to see the best.

And while discussing Cejudo’s pursuit of a fight with Aldo, Sterling said this.

“That’s how you build fans. You beat the people the UFC put in front of you in terms of contenders.

Ultimately if you keep winning, I think the money comes. What are you doing that’s really securing your legacy.

Now you want to fight Jose Aldo, a guy who’s on the down swing of his career because you want to have (beaten a ) ‘GOAT?’ Yeah, he’s the ‘GOAT’ of the era that was back then – not now.

It’s a different time period. Fight the guys who are the best and considered the best because that’s how you become considered the greatest of all time – not just cherry picking your fights and making a mockery and a clown (show) of the division.”

Does Sterling have a point?

If you prefer your MMA matchmaking with a healthy dose of meritocracy, then you’re probably on board with some of what Sterling said here. After all, both Cruz and Aldo are coming off losses.

But, it seems pretty clear that Cejudo wants the big name fights that can generate bigger checks. Some might argue that this doesn’t necessarily mean he’s pursuing easier fights.

Case in point, when you consider Aldo’s wrestling defense, powerful hands and the size advantage he’ll have over Cejudo, that fight’s probably not going to be a walk in the park for the champ.