Is this the end of Triple C?
The UFC bantamweight title is now vacated.
Henry Cejudo announced his retirement following a TKO win over former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, May 9th at UFC249
Henry Cejudo (Yahoo Sports)
The bantamweight division now needs a new champion. Many believed Cejudo was bluffing. The self proclaimed “ Greatest Combat Athlete”, left many confused in the wake of his retirement announcement.
Henry attended the post fight press conference later that night to confirm his retirement plans and even stated he would return to fight and that the promotion knew the exact amount of money that would be required for him to fight again..
The UFC is moving forward and UFC president Dana White is making plans for the vacated title. He mentioned top bantamweight contender Peter Yan would most likely be involved in the title fight for the vacated belt against an unnamed opponent.
The UFC have also been updated and released the company’s rankings which do not include a champion for the bantamweight division. Cejudo was also removed for the pound-for-pound rankings.
Several members of the media believed the retirement announcement was an attempt to renegotiate the current contract, including former UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen.
In his podcast Chael admitted that he was confused. Chael detailed the retirement announcement could have been a marketing stunt that could be used as leverage to renegotiate Henry’s current contract.
The announcement seemed to surprise many and Henry took to twitter to yet again confirm his plans stating, “Thank you for the awesome experiences uncle @danawhite I will forever be grateful. Thank you for taking a chance on the sport that people thought would never make it. To all my coaches and fans it been a wonderful ride. Triple C is out #retiredontop”.
Seems the UFC is calling the bluff and the search for the new champion is now underway.
If the retirement is true, we wish Henry the best and he will certainly go down in the history books as one of the greatest fighters in UFC history. Henry reached what no other athlete has achieved the Olympic gold, UFC flyweight champion, and UFC bantamweight champion.
