Henry Cejudo could have been traded to ONE Championship
Former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo was on the verge on possibly being traded to Singapore-based mixed martial arts promotion, ONE Championship, at least according to ONE’s current heavyweight champion, Arjan Bhullar.
If you recall how the last trade between the UFC and ONE worked out…. things didn’t turn out in favor of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. In 2019, ONE sent semi-retired former welterweight champion Ben Askren to the UFC for arguably the greatest flyweight mixed martial artist to ever compete, Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson. Askren’s career in the UFC was short-lived, while Johnson is still thriving in competition overseas.
Now, Bhullar states that the possibility of another trade that would have sent Cejudo to ONE was put on the table.
“There was also another opportunity that came towards us through all this and that was Henry Cejudo wanting to come to ONE on a trade,” Bhullar told The MMA Hour. “He couldn’t get his stuff worked out on his end and that went high up in the UFC and that was being explored. It was brought to me [wondering] hey what do you think? That’s something I leaned on D.C. (Daniel Cormier) for.
“I liked what he said and he was giving me some good food for thought. Then I got to thinking; this would be a huge thing. Because I know Chatri [Sityodtong] and I know ONE, and I know Dana [White] and the UFC, I feel. Askren wasn’t a good representation of how ONE athletes can compete. He was two years retired, bad hip, but you make that deal because you’re getting D.J., a G.O.A.T., and you make that happen.”
Bhullar himself fought four times for the UFC before heading to ONE. He has two wins there and captured the promotion’s heavyweight title with a second round finish over Brandon Vera in May 2021.
