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There's nothing that Henry Cejudo cannot accomplish. He is part of a rare class of fighters who can lay claim to being the greatest combat sports athlete of all time. Not only has Cejudo achieved greatness, but he has also made history.
He is a man of firsts, a pioneer when it comes to doing the impossible. He defied the odds to become the youngest American to capture Olympic gold in freestyle wrestling after his 2008 triumph in Beijing.
In MMA, he stormed through the rankings to claim divisional supremacy in two different weight classes, enthroning himself as one of the few two-division champions in UFC history. Everything Cejudo touches turns to gold.
This is the tale of his Midas Touch and how 'Triple C' aims to reclaim his bantamweight crown at UFC 288.
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The makings of a champion's mindset
Henry Cejudo was born in 1987 to undocumented Mexican immigrants Jorge Cejudo and Nelly Rico in Los Angeles, California. Chaos engulfed his early childhood. His father struggled with substance abuse issues that fueled a spree of violent behavior that terrorized his family.
His mother, however, was a hardworking woman who bent over backward to provide for the young Cejudo and his six siblings. Unfortunately, the specter of his abusive father followed the family wherever they went. Domestic violence was not new to the Cejudo family during his childhood.
But after his father threatened to kill all seven of his own children, his mother would endure no more. Jorge Cejudo was jailed after taking part in a street fight, and Nelly Rico and her children fled California for the state of New Mexico. Two years later, the elder Cejudo was deported from US soil.
With his mother as his only parental figure and the sole breadwinner in the family, it is easy to see why Henry Cejudo developed the work ethic that won him titles across different sports. But it was the sight of Michael Johnson winning Olympic gold in track and field in 1996 that sparked championship aspirations in his heart.
So after witnessing the sprinter's success on television, nine-year-old Henry Cejudo made the decision to become an Olympic champion. Instead of track and field, his chosen sport was wrestling.
An Olympic Triumph on Chinese Soil
Along with his siblings, the future UFC two-division champion became a renowned wrestler as a child. Despite their mutual success, it was clear to everyone with a working pair of eyes that among the Cejudo siblings, Henry was the prodigy. As he grew older, he grew even more skilled and inspired.
This led to the future Olympian's move to Colorado, where he entrenched himself in the United States Olympic Training Center. There, 'Triple C' won state championships as a junior and senior. His success continued until Cejudo made the decision to bypass collegiate wrestling en route to the global stage.
Henry Cejudo did well on the international scene, but he reached the height of his wrestling career in 2008, one year after his father lost his life to a long battle with drugs and alcohol. That year, he captured several titles, including his third consecutive Pan American Championship in Colorado Springs.
Months later, he reached the summit of the wrestling world in the concrete jungle of Beijing. Cejudo was not supposed to win Olympic gold. The year prior, he was booted from the World Championships by Erkin Tadzhimetov. So when his first Olympic match came against a former world champion, a loss was foretold.
Henry Cejudo faced Radoslav Velikov, a Bulgarian phenom who won gold at the 2006 World Championships. While the American prodigy lost the first period of the match, he rebounded by triumphing in the subsequent two periods to defeat the Bulgarian.
He continued his gutsy performances en route to the finals, where he locked horns with Japan's Tomohiro Matsunaga, who won gold at the Asian Championships months earlier. Undaunted by the challenge and knowing that his heart clamored for that very moment, Cejudo set foot on the mat.
After edging out Matsunaga in the first two periods of their match, 'Triple C' emerged victorious and realized his lifelong dream. He wrote his name in the stars at age 21 to become the youngest Olympic champion in the history of American freestyle wrestling.
His record stood for eight years before being broken in 2016 by Kyle Snyder at age 20.
Henry Cejudo: Legend Killer of the UFC
After achieving all that he could as a wrestler, Henry Cejudo made the transition to mixed martial arts. Success was immediate. The man who would one day crown himself 'Triple C' was unbeaten in his first ten MMA bouts. In his eleventh fight, however, he faced a challenge that no other 125'er in the UFC had overcome.
The promotion scheduled him to face Demetrious Johnson, a fighter who many feel has come closer to perfection than anyone else. Most mixed martial artists are generalists with serviceable skills in all facets of unarmed combat. 'Mighty Mouse' was a different beast entirely. He was and remains a GOAT claimant.
He is not merely competent in all facets of MMA, he is a master. At UFC 197, it took him less than three minutes to fold Cejudo with a knee to the midsection. It was Cejudo's first UFC title fight—and first-ever MMA loss. While he vowed to return with a vengeance, he fared no better in his subsequent bout.
A split-decision loss to perennial flyweight contender Joseph Benavidez followed. Formerly undefeated, Henry Cejudo now found himself on a losing streak. This, however, was not how his story ended. He devoted almost an entire year to bettering himself as a mixed martial artist, making his return at UFC 215.
While he was once a wrestler-boxer, he stepped inside the octagon to meet Wilson Reis as a karateka. The former Olympian bounced back and forth, his footwork fleeting and his stance bladed. He only needed two rounds to blitz his opponent into unconsciousness. Three months later, he won again to start a winning streak.
Finally, after two years, he earned his right to a title rematch with 'Mighty Mouse'. The pair's second bout was nothing like the first. It was a hard-fought war where momentum swung from one fighter to the other. Cejudo overcame a rolling ankle to stun the MMA world and hand Johnson his first UFC loss at flyweight.
His foe's 11-fight record-setting title defense run was over. Cejudo had slain the king, a legend, and captured his crown to become a UFC champion. A year later, he faced another great champion. In 2019, TJ Dillashaw was fresh off defending his bantamweight title against power-punching 135'er Cody Garbrandt.
In his quest for greatness, Dillashaw coveted Cejudo's flyweight title. Unfortunately, the demands of a weight cut to 125 lbs were too great, prompting Dillashaw to use EPO, a banned performance-enhancing drug. It did him no good as Cejudo defied the odds at UFC Fight Night 143 with a 32-second TKO win.
Emboldened, Cejudo—who now portrayed himself in as outlandish a manner as possible to draw fan interest—demanded a rematch, this time for Dillashaw's bantamweight title. Alas, the rematch never came as a positive USADA test for EPO caused Dillashaw to relinquish his title in disgrace.
Instead, Henry Cejudo faced Marlon Moraes for the vacant bantamweight throne. At the time, 'Magic' was a hard-hitting bruiser on a four-fight win streak. This included a first-round knockout against Henry Cejudo's future opponent, Aljamain Sterling. Everyone dismissed the former Olympian's chances of victory.
Moraes was too big and too powerful, they said. Cejudo's triumphs over Johnson and Dillashaw, meanwhile, were relegated to a favorable split decision and a gift from his foe's poor weight cut. But at UFC 238, he proved his doubters wrong after surviving a difficult first round where he endured Moraes' brutal blows.
Henry Cejudo's karate stance did him no favors in that bout. He reverted to his wrestler-boxer style and applied immediate pressure to smother his foe's heavy kicks. Deprived of the space needed to throw kicks, Moraes absorbed blow after blow until he could take no more, suffering a third-round TKO.
Sadly, he hasn't been the same fighter since, losing six of his next seven bouts via KO/TKO. As Dana White wrapped the bantamweight belt around Henry Cejudo's waist, it signaled the birth of 'Triple C': a two-division UFC champion at 125 lbs and 135 lbs, and an Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling.
He was one of a kind.
Cejudo subsequently vacated his flyweight title and agreed to face the 135 lbs GOAT himself, Dominick Cruz, in his first bantamweight title defense. Ahead of their bout, 'The Dominator' was confident, even cocky. But at UFC 249, his exaggerated head dips caused him to dive into the path of a devastating knee.
Within two rounds, Henry Cejudo defeated yet another legend, TKO'ing him to become the first person to finish Cruz in the UFC. Despite his great success, he left the MMA world in disbelief with an abrupt retirement from the sport before spending the next three years enduring ridicule from his contemporaries.
It reignited the competitive fire in him, and now Henry Cejudo is set to return at UFC 288 to face Aljamain Sterling for the title he never lost inside the octagon. However, he isn't merely aiming to reclaim divisional gold. Instead, Cejudo wants the one prize that's always eluded him in MMA: respect.
