MMA analysis: Has Henry Cejudo’s return tarnished his legacy?

Since returning from retirement and going 0-3 in his last three fights, former two-weight world champion Henry Cejudo may have compromised his lasting legacy, particularly at bantamweight.

Sports News Blitz’s MMA writer Niall Togher debates the issue…

The year is 2020.

Henry Cejudo has just finished the former two-time UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 to make the first defence of his bantamweight title.

Slap bang in the middle of his prime at 33 years old and as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, Henry Cejudo decides to announce his retirement.

Fast forward and the year is now 2025.

Henry Cejudo is now 38 years old and 0-3 in his last three fights after cutting his retirement short in 2023.

As we all know, the Olympic Gold Medallist in freestyle wrestling is one of the four fighters to simultaneously hold a title in two different weight classes.

Legacy at 125

Whilst Cejudo’s reign at flyweight was relatively short, his legacy in the 125-pound division is cemented forever.

Cejudo beat notable contenders such as Wilson Reis and Sergio Pettis before ending the legendary reign of Demetrious Johnson, who had defended his belt 11 times going into their rematch in 2018.

Cejudo then went on to save the future of the flyweight division in 2019 when he knocked out TJ Dillashaw in 32 seconds.

Dillashaw at the time was the reigning 135-pound champion and chose to move down a weight class in pursuit of a second title.

The talk leading up to the fight from Dillashaw was that the flyweight division would be closed if he successfully defeated Cejudo due to a lack of interest from the fanbase and it was presumed that with a win, Dillashaw would return straight to bantamweight.

Cejudo, having defended his belt and his division now had his eyes set on a rematch with Dillashaw but this time for the bantamweight title as Cejudo had now made the decision to move up in weight.

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‘Triple C’ is born

Whilst their rematch never came to fruition due to Dillashaw’s positive PED test coming out after their fight, Cejudo did move up to bantamweight to challenge the number one contender Marlon Moraes for the vacant title that Dillashaw had left behind due to his suspension.

In a gutsy performance, Cejudo rallied after losing the opening rounds to finish Moraes by TKO in round three to become the new bantamweight champion of the world.

And this is where Cejudo’s legacy is perhaps up for debate.

There is no doubt that at that time in 2019, Moraes was a world-class bantamweight but the way the Brazilian’s career transpired after the Cejudo fight does not help Cejudo’s claim to being one of the best fighters of all time.

After the Cejudo fight, Moraes has gone 1-7, with all seven losses coming via stoppage.

Next up for Cejudo was the fight with Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 to defend his bantamweight title for the first time.

On paper, this is an outstanding win with Cruz being regarded as the greatest bantamweight of all time at that time.

But when you consider the fact that Cruz had taken the fight on short notice to replace the injured Jose Aldo and had not competed since 2016 due to a multitude of injuries, it is hard to say that Cejudo defeated the best version of Dominick Cruz at UFC 249.

After this fight, Cejudo retired, but it became very apparent that his return to the Octagon would be a matter of when and not if.

Short-lived retirement

The Olympic Gold Medallist would frequently engage in confrontations on Twitter with the likes of Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling, who both became the bantamweight champion at different points during Cejudo’s absence.

Cejudo’s big return eventually came at UFC 288 in 2023, where he challenged Aljamain Sterling for the title that he never lost in the ring.

Despite the three-year layoff, Cejudo performed extremely well but ultimately lost a narrow decision to Sterling.

Instead of retiring again, Cejudo fought in 2024 against Sterling’s team-mate, Merab Dvalishvili, in a number one contender’s bout.

After surviving some initial adversity after Cejudo’s left hook put him on wobbly legs, Merab would go on to defeat Cejudo before going on to win the title himself.

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Cejudo’s legacy at bantamweight

This brings us to last Saturday where Cejudo’s loss to Song Yadong was the former champion's third loss in a row.

Sterling, Dvalishvili and Yadong are all incredible fighters, so it is not as though Cejudo is losing to anything but the elite of his division.

He may look back in years to come and wonder how he would have fared against the likes of Sterling, Dvalishvili, Yan and the other top contenders back in 2020/2021 when he was closer to his fighting prime and holding the strap which brings the Pay-Per-View money along with it.

In the end, Cejudo fought some of the same names he would have likely had to if he had not retired in 2020, but whilst being a few years older and likely receiving a lower paycheque than when he was the champion.

It could be argued that Cejudo either should have stayed retired, or fought until the wheels fell off in his initial run to leave no doubt about how much he could have achieved in his prime.

As of now, Cejudo’s UFC record at bantamweight is 3-3 and despite him performing well in all three of those recent losses, Cejudo’s run at bantamweight in the UFC likely will not age well over time when people look back on it as opposed to his time at flyweight.

In addition to this, out of Cejudo’s three wins at bantamweight, arguably only one has come against an elite fighter in his prime in Moraes who did not stay at the top level of the sport himself for very long.

Overall, Cejudo will still be remembered as one of the all-time greats who whilst his reigns may not be as long as other legendary champions, managed to win belts in two weight classes.

And while he will undoubtedly end up in the UFC Hall of Fame, there may be questions of how elite Cejudo was at bantamweight in particular due to his recent run of form.

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