Flyweight and bantamweight UFC all-timer Henry Cejudo has done everything there is to do in the Octagon – but he still feels that he, and his fellow legends of MMA, do not get the respect that they deserve.
Cejudo is a two-division champion and one of four UFC fighters to have held two titles simultaneously in the promotion. He was also one of only two fighters to defeat Demetrious Johnson during his UFC tenure, with the other being Dominick Cruz – a fighter Cejudo himself defeated.
Referencing a recent grappling match against former ONE title holder Kairat Akhmetov in Kazakhstan, Cejudo was proud to share the admiration he received from the local fans. Cejudo noted that this appreciation should be a common experience for all top MMA fighters.
Speaking to Kamaru Usman, his co-host on the Pound4Pound podcast, Cejudo supported his argument with an anecdote from a close friend and boxing legend, Mike Tyson. “I talk to Mike Tyson all the time about this stuff,” started Cejudo.
“I remember asking Mike Tyson one time. It’s like, ‘Hey, Mike, who do you look up to? What do you think of Michael Jordan?’ He’s like, ‘Has he ever laced up them gloves?'” Cejudo recalled.
“You know, the guys that I look up to, is guys like you. Guys that leave it on the line.’ But this is how we should be treated. We should be making NFL, NBA, that type of money,” Triple C added.
The UFC’s position in the pantheon of competitive sport continues to grow, but currently it continues to be outranked by leagues and competitions with longstanding global appeal, such as the Premier League, NBA, and NFL.
Time will tell whether the UFC reaches that level of popularity and the revenue that comes with it. But Cejudo believes that most sports fans should take a leaf out of Tyson’s book and look up to sports stars who take greater risks to achieve sporting success and immortality.
It seems that Cejudo’s vision of MMA adoration exists on some level in Kazakhstan based on the two-division champ’s recent experience in the country.
Cejudo: I felt like a king in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan has produced a number of successful fighters as of late, including Asu Almabaev, the UFC’s 19-0 ‘Nomad’ Shavkat Rakhmonov, and Cejudo’s recent opponent, Kairat Akhmetov.
However, that didn’t stop fans from mobbing the likes of Cejudo when they touched down in the Central Asian country.
“These dudes are fanatics, bro,” laughed Cejudo. “I have never seen people rave about mixed martial arts like I did in Kazakhstan. I’ve been everywhere, bro, from Brazil to Mexico to obviously here in the US. But in Kazakhstan, it’s different. It is so different.
“This is why whenever anybody’s beefing with Shavkat, if you notice, like look at all those fans that are always throwing out those Kazakhstan flags. I’m like, Jesus Christ, dude. If I was Kazakhstani, I’d probably have half a billion followers,” he added.
While MMA and the UFC remain extremely popular in Kazakhstan, the UFC has yet to hold an official event in the country. An event, UFC Fight Night 176, was scheduled for the summer of 2020. Predictably, it had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But with an enthusiastic fanbase and a host of popular and talented fighters climbing the ranks in the promotion, it is surely an idea that continues to occupy the minds of the UFC brass.
