FightPost MMA Fighter of the Week: Henry “The Messenger” Cejudo

FightPost MMA Fighter of the Week: Henry “The Messenger” Cejudo

By Kieran Cobley 

This week’s ‘Fighter of the Week@ honours go to Henry Cejudo following his first round KO victory over TJ Dillashaw which saw him successfully defend his flyweight title on the first ever UFC card on ESPN.

Coming into the bout, Cejudo was a 7/4 underdog, and many had backed him to lose as he took on the bantamweight champion Dillashaw, who was moving down to 125lbs to try become the 7th double champion, and the first double champ to win their second belt by going down in weight.

Dillashaw’s attempt proved a failure though, with Cejudo abandoning his wrestling heavy style in favour of a hell-for-leather striking approach.

This approach saw Cejudo drop “Killashaw” with a head kick and continue to hit him on the floor, while TJ tried to get back to his feet.

Ultimately though, Dillashaw was unable to get back to his feet, and referee Kevin MacDonald stepped in to call the fight at the 32 second mark.

In the post fight interviews, Cejudo doubled down on the fact that he was fighting on behalf of all the flyweight’s as the division looked as though it would have been cut if the result went the other way, before calling out TJ again for a shot at the bantamweight title.

Dillashaw expressed after the fight that he thought it was an early stoppage, and that he wants to have a second attempt at taking the flyweight belt.

This seems a weird decision as many believe the extra 10lbs that Dillashaw had to cut may have been one of the decisive factors in this fight, especially when you consider how rough he looked at weigh ins.

So what is next for Cejudo? There seems to be three possible avenues now: a rematch with Dillashaw at 125lbs, a rematch with Dillashaw at 135lbs or a rematch with Joseph Benavidez for the flyweight title which would see their storied rivalry be reignited.

Honourable mentions this week go out to: Donald Cerrone who derailed Alexander Hernandez’s hype train with a second round KO victory; and now he looks set to take on Conor McGregor in a money fight.

Gregor Gillespie; who man handled Yancy Medeiros for two rounds before getting a TKO win, Medeiros was only able to throw nine strikes, and only landed one, and Rachael Ostovich, who despite coming into this fight very shortly after a domestic assault incident where she suffered a broken orbital, took the fight right to Paige Van Zant, winning the first round before being forced to tap out to an arm bar in the second.