Eugene Bareman says Alexander Volkanovski vs Henry Cejudo won’t happen: “Henry doesn’t draw”
If there was any thought to a possible fight between former two-weight champion Henry Cejudo and reigning featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, Eugene Bareman says there’s no chance of it happening. After retiring following his bantamweight title defense at UFC 249, Cejudo has taken aim at Volkanovski, saying a fight with the 145-pound champion is one of the very few fights that would bring him out of retirement.
While Cejudo has his own plans for a mega-fight, Bareman, who is the head coach of City Kickboxing in New Zealand, and a coach for Volkanovski, says the fight won’t be happening because Cejudo lacks the drawing power to make it the fight he believes it can be.
During an appearance on Submission Radio, Bareman was asked about the possibility of a fight between the two and says there’s no chance of making it happen.
https://twitter.com/SubmissionRadio/status/1305487020525936640
“There’s not a chance. If Dana gives Volko [Volkanovski] a very substantial amount of money on top of what he already gets to fight Cejudo, then it will happen. But it’s not gonna happen, because ultimately, the problem with Cejudo is that he doesn’t draw. That’s always been the problem. So, you’re not gonna put that extra money in there, and it’s just like, that fight does nothing for Volk.”
Volkanovski had his first title defense of the featherweight title when he defeated Max Holloway in a very close fight at UFC 251, while there have been calls for a trilogy against Holloway, there’s no clear next fight for the champion.
Before retiring, Cejudo became the flyweight champion by defeating former champion Demetrious Johnson at UFC 227 back in 2018, then defeated former bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw in a flyweight title fight before moving up to bantamweight, capturing the vacant title against Marlon Moraes at UFC 238, and most recently defending it at UFC 249, then rode off into retirement.
While Cejudo thinks he has the opportunity to become the first-ever three-division champion in UFC history, Eugene Bareman doesn’t see enough draw power to make the fight happen.
