"We never had a vision for Henry to be King of Cringe"- Chael Sonnen reveals how Henry Cejudo's 'King of Cringe' persona came about

It’s hard to argue against Henry Cejudo being one of the greatest athletes in combat sport. During his rise, he adopted his ‘King of Cringe’ persona. Since then, Cejudo has gained attention at many unique press conferences, including him showing up with pillows of his past opponents, a crown, and a magic wand.

Chael Sonnen recently joined Henry Cejudo and lightweight Mark Madsen for an exclusive interview on ‘Triple C’s YouTube channel. During the interview, Sonnen described how the former two-division UFC champion developed his persona:

“We never had a vision for Henry (Cejudo) to go out and become the ‘King of Cringe.’ Henry wanted to go out, he wanted to be known, he wanted to start doing stuff. He was so bad at it at the beginning because he had no level of training or practice and the only time he got to do it is when the live cameras are rolling that it was cringy, and so he admitted it. Now this turned out to be the real brilliance. Nobody ever said out to Henry, ‘go out there and do things that make people really awkward. Go out and do things that make Dana White get a bright red face cause he’s so uncomfortable with it’, like that was never part of the plan that’s just what it transitioned to.”

Sonnen added that he initially had doubts about Henry Cejudo’s persona getting over with the fanbase and working, but it later changed:

“It was Nate Diaz’s weigh-in against Anthony Pettis, and Henry and I were together. We couldn’t start the show that we were doing because the crowd had left the weigh-ins, they surrounded the ESPN box and they were chanting, ‘Triple C’ It was so bad that we put our headsets on and we tried and the producers stood us down…we’re on live TV…says, ‘guys please, I will get you Henry, I have to do this piece.’ People were like, ‘okay okay, we got it.’ We went back to doing it, they could see the ‘lights, camera, action, go.’ And they went back to ‘Triple C’ We had to stand down again.”

The former two-division champion might have been ridiculed on social media for his persona, but Sonnen mentioned that it not only worked, but it was popular:

"I remember there was still a moment where I saw this cringey, this ‘Triple C’, all the stuff that the people are online teasing him for. They’re waiting in droves, they are chanting his name. They love it, it’s an angle, it’s a gimmick, it’s what expect out of him, and it’s more than anybody else in that division at that time was offering.”

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Henry Cejudo expected to return to the UFC in 2023

Henry Cejudo is expected to make his return to the octagon in 2023. He announced his retirement following his win against Dominick Cruz in 2020, and has since become a successful coach.

‘Triple C’ is rumored to receive the next UFC bantamweight title shot against Aljamain Sterling. The fight is logical, considering he relinquished the title when he retired rather than losing it.