Henry Cejudo is approaching the end of his career. The 37-year-old, one of the most decorated combat sports athletes, who is the youngest American to win an Olympic gold medal and only the fourth fighter to be a two-division concurrent champion in the UFC, had said that he would retire if he lost to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298 last month.

And despite losing the fight, he has announced that he would not be retiring, as he thinks he still has a lot to offer. However, if ‘Triple C’s manager is to be believed, there were serious reasons that led to the loss and he has a very good reason to continue fighting.

Ali Abdelaziz claims he fought Dvalishvili injured

Henry Cejudo faced Merab Dvalishvili in a virtual no. 1 bantamweight title contender bout at UFC 298 earlier this month. After a good first round, he was dominated in the two remaining rounds by the Georgian, who won the bout via a unanimous decision.

However, there were talks immediately after the bout that Cejudo had gone into the bout sitting on an injury. ‘Triple C’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz told ‘The Schmo’ in a recent interview that Cejudo had pulled his groin during the training camp and still chose to fight Dvalishvili against his coach, family, and manager’s wills.

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‘Triple C’ had even tried to hide the injury from Abdelaziz, but he eventually found out that Cejudo was injured and couldn’t train for four weeks before the fight. However, the manager was insistent that this should not take away anything from Dvalishvili’s performance, who he felt could be a champion.

“Henry, honestly, he went against all of our wills and he said I sign a contract I’m going to fight. He pulled his groin. Henry did not wrestle, didn’t spar for four weeks before the fight,” the Egyptian revealed.

“He didn’t tell me. He hid it from me. Dave, who’s the gym owner, who’s a big brother to him, told me, his coaches told me. And he just have a horrible camp, to be honest with you. But like I said, man, it’s Merab. He did everything he needed to do. He should be fighting for a title next and I believe Merab can be a world champion,” Abdelaziz remarked. And while Dvalishvili will be fighting for the title in his next fight, according to Dana White, Cejudo too has an interesting opponent in mind.

Henry Cejudo wants to fight a former friend to squash beef

For his next fight, Henry Cejudo has called out flyweight Brandon Moreno, his former friend with whom he had a falling out after ‘Triple C’ chose Alexandre Pantoja on his team over Moreno on season 24 of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’. In a video on his YouTube channel, Cejudo said that he wanted to fight Moreno at UFC Noche on Mexican Independence Day (September 14) this year, which would be held at the iconic ‘Sphere’ in Las Vegas.

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“Brandon Moreno – the Mexican American vs. the true Mexican, and they come together and they do a five-round showdown at the Sphere in Las Vegas for Mexican Independence Day. I like it!” ‘Triple C’ told fans.

And it seems Moreno would be up for it since he had called out Cejudo after the latter’s UFC 288 loss to then-champion Aljamain Sterling. However, in his latest interview with ‘The Schmo’, his manager Abdelaziz said that he had proposed the fight to the UFC but was refused by the promotion over concerns that Moreno, a flyweight, was too small for ‘Triple C’.

Who do you think Henry Cejudo should fight next?

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