"Henry's taking his shot" - Chael Sonnen reacts to Henry Cejudo re-entering the USADA testing pool

Former UFC fighters Chael Sonnen (left) and Henry Cejudo (right)
Former UFC fighters Chael Sonnen (left) and Henry Cejudo (right)

Chael Sonnen has questioned the sincerity of Henry Cejudo's decision to re-enter the United States Anti-Doping Agency's (USADA) testing pool.

Cejudo is a former UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion. He announced his retirement last May after defeating Dominick Cruz at UFC 249. 'Triple C' dropped out of the USADA testing pool in March 2021.

On his YouTube show Beyond the Fight, Sonnen said he wasn't able to decide if Cejudo really wanted to make a UFC comeback. The former UFC title challenger believes a likely alternative is that he's trying to seek attention post-retirement.

"Henry Cejudo is going to re-enter the USADA testing pool. When you're dealing with Henry, it's tough because he was being 'Henry Cejudo' and not 'Triple C' when he came out and called for a fight with Volkanovski. But how do you separate the schtick from sincerity? Henry is not a fool when it comes to media. He's not the best in the room but he's pretty damn good. I can't think of a champion who's removed him from the sport and got more headlines than Cejudo. Henry's taking his shot."

Cejudo recently claimed he wanted to challenge UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. Discussing the former two-division champ's callout of 'The Great', Sonnen compared 'The Messenger' to himself.

"It's gonna be four months to re-enter [the testing pool]. What do we make of that? So was one of them [USADA or Volkanovski challenge] insincere? They are mutually exclusive. He knew he wasn't eligible to fight Volkanovski, yet he called him out. Henry's known to make statements to get everybody's attention. He enjoyed that and let the audience in on the gag. I was known for the same thing. But one thing I told the world is you don't owe the media anything, including the truth. Bad guys lie."

Watch Chael Sonnen speak about Henry Cejudo in his YouTube video below:

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Henry Cejudo wants to become the UFC's first three-division champion

Henry Cejudo is the only fighter to win an Olympic gold and a UFC championship. The 34-year-old American was a 55kg freestyle champ at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Cejudo won the UFC flyweight championship from Demetrious Johnson in August 2018. He became the fourth UFC star to hold titles in two divisions simultaneously after beating Marlon Moraes to claim the bantamweight belt in June 2019.

Following Alexander Volkanovski's win over Brian Ortega at UFC 266, Henry Cejudo called out the Australian champion in an attempt to become the first ever three-division titleholder in UFC history.

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Edited by Harvey Leonard