“Feel Like a Virg*n Again”: Henry Cejudo Says Losing Fuels His Motivation More Than Anything After Back-to-Back Losses

Henry Cejudo is an Olympic gold medalist. So being carried across the ring by Merab Dvalishvili while he talked to Mark Zuckerberg outside the octagon and getting body slammed would have been a humbling experience. The fact that it came on the back of a title loss to Aljamain Sterling just months before definitely made it worse. However, Cejudo claims the feeling of ‘nothing to lose anymore’ truly fuels his motivation.

‘Triple C’ once ruled the flyweight and bantamweight divisions with an iron grip. But after retiring at the peak of his career in 2020, his comeback hasn’t gone as planned. Cejudo has been on a losing streak only once before in his UFC career. He then followed it up with a winning run that saw him beat the GOAT Demetrius Johnson for the flyweight championship and follow it up with 3 successful defenses.

Now, as he nears the twilight of his career, Cejudo feels that there’s still some fuel left in his tanks and wants to direct it all towards a renewed campaign inside the octagon.

“I feel good man, I feel like a virgin again… I’ve learned that losing really motivates the f*ck out of me. And I like it dude, I like the position that I’m at… and it’s only up from here.”

Does he still have what it takes to compete at the highest level, or has the sport evolved past him? Only time will tell. One thing’s for sure, Cejudo isn’t going away quietly.

Interestingly, if he really wants to go on another title run, the Olympic gold medalist will have to contend with his old nemesis, the bantamweight champion Merab. However, this might be a different Merab than the one who had dominated him. The Georgian champion has become far more dangerous.

Cejudo calls Merab the GOAT

Merab’s title campaign has been a long and arduous road. He had to go on a 10-fight win streak to even be considered the right choice to fight for the title at Bantamweight. During this time, he not only beat Cejudo but added legends like Petr Yan and Jose Aldo to his list of conquests.

He defeated Sean O’Malley in a one-sided affair to win the title at UFC: Noche and then in the span of a few short months, proved his doubters wrong and handed Umar Nurmagomedov his first pro loss. It is because of these reasons that Cejudo believes Merab should be considered to be called the greatest of all time at 135 lbs.

“He’s fought everybody. He’s beat everybody in this division, f*ck it, you could say in their prime. Merab is the bantamweight GOAT, man, at least in my eyes. He has only one title defense, but the people who he has beaten is great, man. Great top 5 resume.”

Mind you, Merab’s reign has just begun. He wants to return as early as March or April and then fight again before the end of the year. That is a scary prospect for everyone in the division; an active champion that literally never gets tired inside the octagon!