Henry Cejudo still wants to fight Jose Aldo very soon.
Cejudo was set to battle Aldo on May 9 at UFC 250 in Brazil. Yet, Aldo was removed from the card due to visa issues and on the new May 9 card, “Triple C” will defend his belt against Dominick Cruz.
When Cruz was announced as the opponent, many bantamweights were frustrated given Cejudo was fighting someone coming off a loss and hadn’t fought since 2016. Although he made it clear he wants a legend in his first title defense, according to his manager Ali Abdelaziz, he wants another legend in Aldo in his second title defense.
“At the time we’re in, there’s no such thing as he deserves it or not,” Abdelaziz told MMA Junkie. “Listen, let’s be real: Aldo didn’t deserve this by the numbers and by the rankings, but what Aldo has done throughout his career, what Dominick Cruz has done throughout his career, what Frankie Edgar has done throughout his career, and if you want to take these legends, listen, if Henry wins … eight weeks later he said he wants to fight Aldo. If we can get Aldo, he’s gonna fight Aldo.”
Bantamweight is stacked with contenders like Aljamain Sterling, Cory Sandhagen and Petr Yan, but Cejudo isn’t interested in fighting them. Instead, the plan is to fight Cruz then Aldo very soon after.
“Still, the next opponent is Jose Aldo. It’s none of these other guys,” Abdelaziz said. “This is what he wants, and this is what’s a deal. He told the UFC, but I know Aldo has some travel issues or some visa issues, I don’t know. But also, how are you gonna say no to Aldo? This guy is one of the best lighter weights we’ve ever seen.”
