5 reasons why the UFC should not book Alexander Volkanovski vs. Henry Cejudo

#4. The UFC featherweight division has far more deserving contenders than Henry Cejudo

Current featherweight contenders such as Giga Chikadze are more deserving of a title shot than Henry Cejudo

With wins over Jose Aldo, Chad Mendes, Max Holloway and Brian Ortega under his belt, it’s clear now that Alexander Volkanovski is one of the UFC’s toughest and most proven champions.

However, to claim that the featherweight kingpin has cleaned out his division would be a massive mistake. The UFC’s 145-pound class is stacked full of talent. There are a number of fighters who could prove to be a threat to ‘The Great’.

The likes of Yair Rodriguez, Zabit Magomedsharipov, Giga Chikadze and Arnold Allen are all looking for a title shot right now. That’s without even mentioning the possibility of a third clash between Volkanovski and Holloway.

Looking at this, it becomes clear that, assuming he keeps making successful title defenses, Alexander Volkanovski has his hands full for at least the next two or three years. So would it be fair for the UFC to allow Henry Cejudo, who has never fought at 145 pounds in his MMA career, to leapfrog all of those great fighters for a shot at the champion? Absolutely not.

To allow ‘Triple C’ to do such a thing would be a slap in the face for the current featherweights attempting to claw their way to a UFC title shot. It would only cause a logjam in the division.

Henry Cejudo is undoubtedly a great fighter, but the UFC featherweight division just has far more deserving contenders right now.

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#3. Henry Cejudo is not proven enough as a draw to warrant special treatment from the UFC

Despite his accomplishments, Henry Cejudo is not a proven drawing card for the UFC

Whether you love his antics or you hate them, it’s hard to deny Henry Cejudo’s greatness as a fighter. ‘Triple C’ is one of just four fighters to hold two UFC titles in different weight classes simultaneously. That makes him one of the best ever.

However, despite his accomplishments, including the Olympic gold medal in wrestling that he won prior to his UFC career, Henry Cejudo has never proven himself as a money-drawing superstar for the promotion. ‘Triple C’ headlined just one pay-per-view during his UFC career, UFC 238, which was estimated to have drawn somewhere just over 250k buys.

And despite being a featured star for a number of years, Cejudo was never positioned as one of the UFC’s true poster-boys, even after he claimed his two UFC titles. In fact, it’d probably be fair to put him in a similar position as fighters such as Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway when it comes to star power.

In the past, the UFC has always given preferential treatment to its true superstars. Conor McGregor, for instance, has been given far more big opportunities than other fighters over the years. The same could be said for the likes of Ronda Rousey and Randy Couture. However, those fighters were all proven drawing cards for the UFC, something Henry Cejudo has never shown himself to be.

Therefore, the promotion would find it hard to justify giving ‘Triple C’ the kind of special treatment that would see him granted a shot at UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.