Henry Cejudo says Demetrious Johnson win was the ‘pinnacle’ of his UFC career
Henry Cejudo shocked many as he retired from MMA following his first successful UFC bantamweight title defense.
In the co-main event of UFC 249, Cejudo was taking on Dominick Cruz where the fight was fairly even. Yet, with just seconds left in the second round, “Triple C” landed a knee that dropped Cruz. He finished him with several ground strikes with just two seconds left in the round to win by TKO.
It was a very impressive performance and many expected Cejudo to call out Jose Aldo or Alexander Volkanovski after the fight. But, instead, he announced his retirement saying he has given his whole life to combat sports.
If this truly is the end for Cejudo, it was a phenomenal career. But, he says the win over Demetrious Johnson was the highlight.
“The pinnacle of my UFC career? Man, there’s a lot of great ones,” he said after UFC 249 (h/t MMAJunkie). “But I think it was beating Demetrious Johnson, even though a lot of you guys probably didn’t think I won.”
The fight was super close as two judges had Cejudo winning 48-47 with the other awarding the win to Johnson 48-47. As for the media scores, 25 media scored the fight on MMADecisions, and 13 had it for Cejudo, 12 for Johnson.
Not only was the win impressive, but it also ended the lengthy and dominant reign by Johnson. For Cejudo, that is something he will also remember.
“I’ll take that razor-thin victory. Demetrious Johnson is a very special athlete. A very special mixed martial artist,” he explained. “And if you were to ask ‘Triple C’ who was the greatest mixed martial artist of all time, it’s Demetrious Johnson.”
No matter if this is the end, Henry Cejudo will always have the win over Demetrious Johnson and being the one who ended the GOAT’s reign.
