Although it may not seem so because of his happy and cheerful demeanor, Henry Cejudo had a very tough childhood. ‘Triple C’ was born the second of seven children to Mexican immigrant parents. He and his family suffered abuse at the hands of his addict father, who was deported when he was six and died when Cejudo was twenty.

Cejudo’s mother worked multiple jobs to make ends meet and the 37-year-old’s early life was steeped in poverty and want. What helped him overcome these circumstances and make a better life for his family was wrestling, the sport that he excelled at and made history in prior to making history in the UFC. As he sets up to face #2 ranked bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili in a virtual title eliminator at UFC 298 this week, let us take a look at his storied martial arts background.

Henry Cejudo’s wrestling background

Henry Cejudo began wrestling at the young age of seven, inspired by his older brother, Angel Cejudo, who was a four-time Arizona Interscholastic wrestling state champion. The younger Cejudo showed great promise from the beginning and went on to become a four-time AIA champion himself before going on to win the Colorado state championships, ASICS National High School Wrestler of the Year, Junior National Championships, and Junior World Championships while in school.

Cejudo continued his stellar run of form at the senior level and in 2006 became the first high schooler to qualify for the U.S. Nationals in freestyle since USA Wrestling was established as the governing body for amateur wrestling in 1983. Cejudo won the Pan American Games in 2007 and qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics next year.

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He made history again by winning the Olympic gold medal in the 55 kilogram category, becoming the youngest American to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling. The Mexican-American then took a break and went on a two-year hiatus from the sport.

He announced a second Olympic run in 2010, but lost to Nick Simmons in the 2012 Olympic trials. After the loss, he put his shoes in the middle of the mat, indicating his retirement. He announced that he had started training mixed martial arts in January 2013 and made his pro MMA debut in March the same year. While his wrestling gave him an excellent base for MMA and led to some initial success, his striking was found lacking when he faced truly elite fighters at the UFC.

Addition of Karate into Henry Cejudo’s fighting style

While a world-class wrestler, Cejudo was not quite as adept at striking, able to explode when going froward, but ineffective when fighting backwards. These deficiencies in his stand-up game led to the first two (and consecutive) losses in his MMA career to Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez.

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To improve his striking, the Olympic gold medallist started training in Shotokan Karate. And the results were apparent from his next performances. The Mexican-American had much better footwork in his subsequent fights, and was able to set traps for his opponents using it. In addition, he displayed a much better understanding of range, using it to get in and out, instead of simply exploding forward and then retreating, as he had done earlier.

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