Getty Floyd Mayweather Jr.
A former UFC star claims to be on his way to fighting retired boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. next. Retired UFC “champ champ” Henry Cejudo posted the news via social media on Friday. Cejudo, 34, told fans to stay tuned for the official announcement.
Cejudo posted, “It’s going down! The Triple C Vs The Olympic bronze medalist @floydmayweather #staytune”.
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Retired ‘Champ Champ’ vs. Retired Boxing Champ?
Both Cejudo and Mayweather are decorated combat sports athletes.
Cejudo hasn’t competed since stunningly announcing his retirement after defending his UFC bantamweight championship against former divisional kingpin Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 in May 2020.
Cejudo is the only Olympic gold medalist in history to also win a world title in the UFC. He’s one of only four fighters in company history to hold two UFC championships in different divisions at the same time and one of only seven to win a title in more than one division across an entire career.
Mayweather, 44, is currently retired from boxing, but he competed in an exhibition bout against RIZIN kickboxing prodigy Tenshin Nasukawa in 2018 and has promised similar bouts to be on the way since that fight.
As a professional boxing champion, Mayweather established himself as the premier fighter of his era by winning world titles across four different weight classes. He’s sold more pay-per-views than any other prizefighter in history, and he’s never been defeated in the pro ranks.
Additionally, Mayweather won a bronze medal in boxing for the United States at the 1996 Olympics.
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Why Mayweather vs. Cejudo Could Happen
UFC President Dana White recently hinted on social media that he could be working on something with Mayweather again soon. You can see that post from Instagram below. It shows Mayweather, White and RIZIN CEO Nobu Sakakibara.
White and Mayweather did business together in 2017 for Mayweather’s last professional fight against UFC superstar Conor McGregor, and both have promised numerous times to the media over the past few years that more events could be on the way.
Sakakibara and Mayweather worked together for Mayweather vs. Tenshin.
While Mayweather vs. Cejudo wouldn’t nearly be the same kind of blockbuster megafight that Mayweather vs. McGregor turned out to be, it would likely generate much more interest in the United States than the Mayweather vs. Tenshin promotion did in 2018.
Why Mayweather vs. Cejudo Probably Won’t Happen
Mayweather vs. Cejudo doesn’t seem all that likely for various reasons.
First, Cejudo has used his social media platforms repeatedly to call out all sorts of people from all over the combat sports world since last summer, but none of those fights have happened.
Second, Cejudo probably doesn’t have the celebrity star power required to be selected to fight Mayweather.
I’m the legacy snatcher 🏆🏆🏆#bendtheknee
Besides, Mayweather is supposedly heading into an exhibition bout against YouTuber Logan Paul later this year, and Paul commands much more interest and likely drives many more pay-per-view buys for the boxer than Cejudo could.
Regardless, Cejudo claims the fight is on the way, and stranger things have happened in the topsy-turvy world of combat sports.
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