Henry Cejudo’s retirement is “permanent,” if Eric Albarracin is to be believed.
Cejudo put his UFC bantamweight gold on the line against Dominick Cruz on May 9. The bout served as the co-main event of UFC 249. Cejudo found success early on with his leg kicks and was just too quick for Cruz. In the second stanza, “Triple C” dropped Cruz with a knee to the jaw followed by ground-and-pound for the TKO finish.
Henry Cejudo Truly Retired, Says Eric Albarracin
Speaking to BJPenn.com, Albarracin admitted that Cejudo’s decision to retire after the successful title defense caught him off guard.
“We were really surprised. On the day of the fight, we were talking about who he was going to call out after the fight. We talked about Conor McGregor, Alexander Volkanovski, and Aldo, and we thought let’s call them all out,” he said. “The plan was to change Henry’s nickname to C4 and Henry said stop right there I’m done. If he’s happy, I’m happy.”
“I would never say never but it is permanent. When Henry won the Olympics in 2008 everyone thought he would go two or three more and he said I’m done the next day. We’ve seen this before,” he said. “He came back in 2012 but his heart wasn’t in it. He knows you can’t take two or three years off from this game and come back at the top. Cruz did it, but it’s really hard so I think he is done.”
As of late, Cejudo has been trading barbs with 21-year-old boxing sensation Ryan Garcia. “Triple C” didn’t hide from the fact that he was looking for more money before announcing his retirement from MMA.
If Cejudo is truly done with MMA competition, he walks away having won the UFC bantamweight and flyweight titles. He’s defeated the likes of Demetrious Johnson, Dominick Cruz, and T.J. Dillashaw.
