Henry Cejudo Removed Longtime Coach Eric Albarracin from Team Ahead of UFC 298

Longtime coach Eric Albarracin was not a part of Henry Cejudo’s camp ahead of the former two-division champion’s fight with Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298.

Cejudo parted ways with Albarracin, who has been his coach since before his MMA career began, on an episode of the UFC “Countdown” show. It was unclear exactly when that particular episode was filmed.

“You were with me for my last Olympic trials, and you’ve been there for me, but as of right now, I just want to let you know that for this camp, dude, I’m getting rid of specific coaches – and that’s you included,” Cejudo said to Albarracin.

At least on camera, Albarracin seemed to take his dismissal in stride.

“The goal has always been the same, for you to be the greatest combat athlete of all-time,” Albarracin said. “To me, that was a dream come true.”

Cejudo, meanwhile, commended the coach for his classy response.

“This is why this man is the GOAT coach — the most unselfish human that you will ever meet,” Cejudo said. “Captain Eric Albarracin.”

While Cejudo has remained at Fight Ready, he revealed on the episode that he wanted to have less voices for this camp.

“Sometimes you get too close to somebody and people just get too comfortable. … Right now, what I want to do in this fight camp is keep it strictly business,” Cejudo said.

“… Every fight should be a different cocktail, and you have to be able to adjust and grab different coaches that can take you to wherever it is that you actually want to go.”

Cejudo returned from a three-year retirement at UFC 288, where he dropped a split decision to then champion Aljamain Sterling in a bantamweight title bout last May. The Olympic gold medalist recently revealed that he would consider retiring again if he were to lose to Dvalishvili at UFC 298.

UFC 298 takes place on Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, and is headlined by a featherweight championship clash between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria. The main card — which includes Cejudo vs. Dvalishvili — airs on pay-per-view via ESPN+ beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.