Dana White has given some advice to Henry Cejudo and Ali Abdelaziz on how to get the former flyweight and bantamweight champion a fight.
After it was revealed Max Holloway was out of his trilogy match against Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight belt, Cejudo was vocal about wanting the fight. However, the UFC showed no interest in the bout and decided to turn to the Korean Zombie instead. This was not the first time Cejudo has teased a comeback or called for a fight against Volkanovski. "Triple C" has been calling out Volkanovski frequently since his decision to retire.
Now, White has given Cejudo and Abdelaziz some advice on what they should do if Triple C is really serious in wanting to return.
“The thing is, Cejudo is retired,” White told Yahoo Sports (via MMAFighting). “There’s a way to go about it if you really want to fight, if that’s what you really want to do, you want the Volkanovski fight. What you don’t do is - I mean, you could. You could go online and start talking to Volkanovski and calling him names and all this stuff, but what you’d really have to do is pick up the phone and call and say, ‘Hey, what’s the procedure I need to follow to get back into a fight? I want to unretire and when can I get back into the USADA pool? How fast and what do I need to do?’ That’s how you get a fight.
“His manager (Ali Abdelaziz) has 280,000 fighters under contract in the UFC, Cejudo’s been here forever," White continued. "If you really want to fight, get down here and make some calls and say, ‘Hey, what do I need to do to get back in to fight? I want to jump back in.’ That’s how you do it. You don’t call people out and call them names on Twitter and then expect we’re gonna pick up the phone and go, ‘Hey, we’ve got a fight for you!’”
Henry Cejudo retired following a TKO win over Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 to defend his bantamweight title for the first and only time. Although he retired, he has continued to talk about returning. Yet, Dana White says he or his manager hasn't made a serious effort to actually book a fight.
For White, he makes it clear, if Cejudo is serious about returning, he needs to prove that and not demand a title fight on social media.
“Then get it done,” White said. “You know how to do it. Have your manager call over here and get the deal done. That’s why I was saying the other night and the media is saying, ‘Well, Henry Cejudo said this and this guy said that,’ - it’s a silly conversation. This is ridiculous to even talk about. You’re asking me about a retired fighter that isn’t anywhere near coming back, to take on Alexander Volkanovski, who is in a different weight class, in a short notice fight. Why are we talking about this? How does this make sense?
“If you really want to fight, get on the phone with your matchmaker and get the ball rolling.”
Do you think we will see Henry Cejudo fight again?