Henry Cejudo thinks Conor McGregor needs to ease his way back into the octagon.
McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) soon could be nearing his return after suffering a broken fibula in a TKO loss to Dustin Poirier last July at UFC 264, and the former dual champion wants a title fight right off the bat.
McGregor has called out the likes of ex-lightweight champ Charles Oliveira when he had the title and UFC welterweight champ Kamaru Usman, but Cejudo – also a former UFC dual champion – said McGregor needs go after someone like the skidding Tony Ferguson (25-7 MMA, 15-5 UFC), who recently dropped his fourth straight in a knockout loss to Michael Chandler at UFC 274.
“I like the Tony Ferguson fight for him. I think that fight is winnable for Conor,” Cejudo said on “The Triple C & Schmo Show.” “He cannot be taking these high-level competitions. He’s gonna get hurt. He’s gonna continue to keep getting hurt. I think, he goes up with Tony and then maybe – of course he’s a cash cow – give him whoever he wants at 55 or 70, but I think he needs to get his feet wet. At least f*cking win, man. Win a damn fight.”
Cejudo, who has taken multiple shots at McGregor’s striking technique, continued to critique his training methods. The Olympic gold medalist wrestler thinks McGregor needs to go back to the drawing board, especially when it comes to his grappling, if he wants any chance to continue hanging with the elite.
“It’s crazy because there’s a lot of flaws that he has,” Cejudo said. “As good as he was in the past, there’s still a lot of flaws that he has that he’s still not fixing. So I’m still not sold on that chump.”
He continued, “Show some damn wrestling, show takedown defense. If I was Conor McGregor with all that money that you have, have somebody to live with you full time where they’re with you, they’re dissecting you, and they’re making wrestling fun. He needs to find a teacher that could really teach him. Not a coach, a teacher. And then once you find that teacher that can really teach him, and then you put it into practice where you’re actually going live and things of that nature.”
Henry Cejudo: Conor McGregor should want ‘winnable’ fight with Tony Ferguson in UFC return
