Henry Cejudo Would Consider Retirement With Loss to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298

Henry Cejudo is contemplating retirement yet again.

The former Ultimate Fighting Championship double champ previously announced a surprising retirement in May 2020 after defeating Dominick Cruz via technical knockout at UFC 249.

“Triple C” came out of retirement for a bantamweight gold bid against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288 in May last year, suffering a split decision loss.

Cejudo is now slated to face Merab Dvalishvili at The HJR Experiment. “I think to have to lose it to Aljamain ... I think if I was going to go maybe down the ladder, I would probably be done with fighting again because it’s just like the sport is hard, man. Training camps, having two kids, and things like that. … It’s all or nothing, man.

“It’s more of a motivation of vengeance. It’s not always the love. Even coming back to the sport, I was like, ‘I want to test myself.’ I like the matchup [vs. Sterling]. It has been three years, but it was also the financial compensation. I mean, there’s nothing easier to make money than the fight game.”

UFC 298 is headlined by a featherweight title clash, where reigning champion Alexander Volkanovski will take on an undefeated contender Ilia Topuria. In the co-main event, former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will face another divisional veteran in Paulo Costa.