Henry Cejudo Finds Peace During UFC 249 Fight Week: ‘It’s Just More Calm’

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Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight king Henry Cejudo is ready for his co-headliner at UFC 249, and he is comfortable during this chaos.

Appearing at the UFC Virtual Media Day on Thursday, Cejudo showed up wearing a mask like multiple other fighters. Unlike most of the others, however, he left it on during his entire scrum, only to remove it at the very end when leaving. Although full of buzzwords and catchphrases like usual, Cejudo appeared more at ease than in some of his recent media appearances.

Cejudo attributed his nature to the way the UFC is handling fight week. “It’s just more calm” he said. “It doesn’t feel like fight week…it’s kind of peaceful to me.” It is also entirely possible that Cejudo was relatively muted because of the nature of his visit to Jacksonville. Isolated from the majority of the other fighters on the card, Cejudo laughed when he said what he had been up to since arriving.

“I just woke up,” he admitted during his media session that started at 12:30 p.m. ET. “I got here last night; I haven’t left my room.” Fighter have been granted individual workout areas, as well as personal saunas, with the intention of not having to interact with one another. He, his team and everyone else ahead of UFC 249 in Jacksonville, Florida, will be attempting to observe social distancing guidelines.

“I’ve gone crazier if you haven’t noticed,” said Cejudo frankly. “In my last post I was going to marry Jose ‘Baldo.’” Recently, Cejudo joked that he would marry Jose Aldo in an attempt to get the Brazilian fighter into the country. Aldo, like many others from Brazil, has been affected by visa issues that prohibited them from traveling to the United States. This knocked Aldo out of his match with Cejudo, and Dominick Cruz stepped in on short notice as a replacement.

Despite the short-notice opportunity and the fact that the former champ has not competed since 2016, Cejudo still believe Cruz will bring it to him on Saturday. “I’m expecting the best Dominick Cruz to come on Saturday night. I hope he expects the best ‘Triple C.’ I’m firing on all cylinders.” Brimming with confidence, Cejudo joked that he could even beat heavyweight Francis Ngannou, claiming, “Bring on that French fry.”

Ever-confident in his abilities, he was still comfortable saying that the downtime allowed during the pandemic has given him the chance to take stock. “I got to know myself and my style,” he said. But despite this, he is ready for his time to shine. “I’m ready for 25 minutes if that’s how long it goes. I’m ready for one minute…I’m looking to stop him.”

Not afraid of “ring rust” and ready to prove it that his own layoff will not hurt him, he said, “It all depends on the individual, like preparation. I’m also here to prove that wrong.” He further explained, “At the end of the day, I know what I gotta do. It doesn’t matter if there are two people in the stands or nobody in the stands, I gotta get the win.”

Although he felt that Cruz will be well prepared against him, the Olympic gold medalist is a little bemused by Cruz’ trash talk. “I don’t know what to say about Cruz,” he stated. “I think it’s the person you are, and you just amplify it. Cruz is like…a used car salesman.” He also went on to call Cruz “Dominique” in an attempt to make Cruz sound feminine or weak.

Cruz is not the only fighter Cejudo was willing to rip into a little while talking to the media. He also again joked about Aldo using his “Baldo” nickname, and laughed off the contenders calling for a shot at the title. Cejudo believes that he defeated the rightful number one contender that was Marlon Moraes, and that no other fighter has earned their shot.

“All these dudes should fight each other to [make] the number one contender,” he posited. He went on to say that the contenders like Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling should “keep crying” but that they should be matched up against one another.

In addition to active fighters, Cejudo weighed in on former champ T.J. Dillashaw. Cejudo expressed his disgust for the ex-champ, as Dillashaw tested positive for EPO following their first match in January 2019. “I feel dirty even talking about T.J.,” he remarked. “I don’t know if I could stand next to [him].” Cejudo further elucidated that he would not be interested in fighting Dillashaw in the future, saying about Dillashaw, “he’s gotta get his mind right.”

On May 9 at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, UFC 249 will take place in Jacksonville, Florida. It will be headlined by an interim lightweight title clash between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje. Defending his bantamweight strap for the first time against Cruz will be Cejudo.