The UFC world was shocked yesterday when the pound-for-pound best fighter in the UFC, Demetrious Johnson, suffered his first loss in Flyweight history and lost his belt to Henry Cejudo.
Cejudo has become just the second champion at Flyweight after Johnson had dominated the division since it’s inception into the UFC with 11 title defences.
Before this fight, Cejudo certainly wasn’t a household name in the UFC but he has now etched himself into UFC history.
We run through ten things that you may not know about the new UFC Flyweight Champion.
This Was Not His First Shot At The Title
Henry Cejudo got his chance at the Flyweight title at UFC197 but was comprehensively beaten by Demetrious Johnson in the first round.
The way Mighty Mouse talked post fight, I don’t think he imagined that Cejudo would come back and be the one that stripped him of his belt.
He Was Born In Los Angeles
His parents migrated from Mexico over 40 years ago, he is one of seven and was raised by his single mother.
However Cejudo was born in South Central L.A and fights out of Phoenix Arizona.
He Is An Olympic Gold Medalist
Cejudo won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 55KG weight division.
His wrestling and take-downs proved the difference in his victory over Johnson to claim the title at UFC227.
He Has Plans To Move Up A Division
Cejudo started his MMA career in the Bantamweight Division and after his victory over Johnson at UFC227 he voiced his intention to move back up in weight to 135 pounds.
It just so happened that the Bantamweight Champion T.J Dillashaw defended his belt on the same card. Coincidence. We think not.
He Only Has Two Losses To His Name
Cejudo won his first ten professional MMA fights before his loss to Demetrious Johnson at UFC197.
His only other loss came in The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament Of Champions Finale against Joeseph Bernavidez via a split decision.
He was deducted a point on that fight for repeated low blows that could have ultimately lost him the fight however it was a very weird score card with one judge scoring the incredibly close fight 30-26.
UFC President Dana White phoned Cejudo after the fight to offer an apology for the way the fight was judged.
He Is Short!
Cejudo is just 162.56cm tall, which makes him one of the shortest professional athletes on the planet.
He is shorter than Manny Pacquiao and Jeff Horn and is even shorter than jockeys like Hugh Bowman and Blake Shinn.
He Refused To Fight In Nevada
When Nick Diaz was suspended by the Nevada Athletic Commission on drug charges there were many fighters willing to stick up for him and the way he was treated.
Henry Cejudo was one of those that stood up for Diaz and he even boycotted fighting in the state for a period of time.
He Was Inducted Into The National Wrestling Hall Of Fame
Henry Cejudo was only twenty one years of age when he seemingly came out of nowhere in 2008 to become America’s youngest Olympic Gold Medallist in freestyle wrestling.
He was inducted into the Hall Of Fame earlier this year.
He Narrowly Escaped Californian Bushfires With His Life
Early in the morning on October 9 last year Henry Cejudo’s fire alarm went off and he woke to find that he was being engulfed in flames.
His quick actions saved his life as he jumped out of his hotel room window to safety.
He survived the ordeal and fought at UFC 218 only two months later.
He’s A Boxing Fan
Even during his wrestling days, Cejudo was watching and practising boxing.
He has an affinity for Latin boxers in particular and he credits them as being his heroes.
It was no surprise to those close to him when he decided to take up mixed martial arts after he won his gold medal.