LAS VEGAS – The birth of “Triple C” has made Henry Cejudo one of the sport’s most talked-about stars.
After climbing the flyweight ranks, Cejudo (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) shocked the world by dethroning former UFC 125-pound king Demetrious Johnson at UFC 227, avenging his loss from their first meeting.
Everything changed for Cejudo, the current bantamweight champion, after winning his first title. The Olympic wrestling gold medalist took a different approach to self-promotion, and decided to embrace his inner cringe. Cejudo took on then-UFC bantamweight champ, T.J. Dillashaw, for his first title defense. The fight promos included costumes, trash talk and props, which all paid off for Cejudo, who backed everything up his histrionics in the Jan. 2019 bout by stopping Dillashaw in just 32 seconds.
The general notion going in was that if Dillashaw beat Cejudo, it would likely spell the end of 125-pound weight class in the UFC. While the flyweight division remains in flux, the division’s former champion believes he is the reason the division remains alive.
“If I literally wasn’t to open my mouth…the flyweight division would have been gone,” Cejudo said at the recent Dominance MMA media day. “I took it upon myself to become the ‘Triple C’ and to make it happen. Listen to Chael Sonnen, call him ‘Triple Cringe,’ ‘Triple C,’ the dude save 57 freakin jobs.”
“So there is a business sense to it, I think fighters we tend to forget that a little bit. I’m not hurting nobody, I’m not committing crimes. They asked Demetrious Johnson not too long ago, what do you think of Henry Cejudo, what do you think of all the cringe, ‘dude I love it.’ This isn’t hurting anybody. I mean this is the dude I defeated, this is the dude I beat so part of the game is being an entertainer as well and I happen to save a division on top of that so I’m happy with that.”
When Dillashaw was stripped of his 135-pound title after testing positive for EPO, Cejudo moved up in weight and faced the streaking Marlon Moraes for the vacant bantamweight title at UFC 238. He scored another stoppage, coming from behind to defeat Moraes via fourth-round TKO.
He joined a select few to win two titles simultaneously, and is set to make his first 135-pound title defense against former longtime featherweight champion Jose Aldo at UFC 250, looking to add another big name to his resume.
Henry Cejudo on cringe reaction: If I didn't open my mouth, flyweight division would be gone
