Former UFC bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo acknowledges that Jose Aldo probably shouldn’t be next in line for the title.
Cejudo (16-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) initially was scheduled to fight former featherweight champ Aldo on May 9, but travel restrictions forced the Brazilian out, and he was replaced by Dominick Cruz. Cejudo went on to finish Cruz in Round 2 at UFC 249 and proceeded to announce his retirement, as well as relinquish the 135-pound belt.
As a result, Aldo now is expected to meet Petr Yan for the vacant bantamweight title at UFC 251, despite Aldo being on a two-fight skid that includes a narrow loss to Marlon Moraes in his last outing. Cejudo admits that it’s his fault that the UFC awarded Aldo (28-6 MMA, 10-5 UFC) the title shot, considering that he originally chose him as his next title challenger.
“It was actually really my fault,” Cejudo said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. “It’s my fault that Jose Aldo is fighting for the belt because that’s who I was originally supposed to fight (before) Dominick, but this whole COVID thing happened, so Aldo was gonna fight for the title. Then it’s like you can’t do that to him (take it back), so the UFC, they stuck to their word.”
Aljamain Sterling cemented himself as the legitimate bantamweight No. 1 contender this past Saturday when he submitted Cory Sandhagen in under two minutes at UFC 250 for his fifth win in a row.
Cejudo thinks it should be Sterling getting the title shot instead of Aldo.
“The people that I think should fight for the belt would be Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan,” Cejudo said.
Henry Cejudo admits he's to blame for Jose Aldo's UFC bantamweight title shot
