Getty Israel Adesanya & Jared Cannonier
Former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo had a harsh take on middleweight king Israel Adesanya’s most recent performance, but he’s now issued an apology to “The Last Stylebender.”
Adesanya headlined UFC 276 in Las Vegas, Nevada earlier this month against top-ranked contender Jared Cannonier. The bout went all five rounds and the champion notched his fifth title defense, earning the judges’ nod via unanimous decision.
But, The Last Stylebender was subjected to criticism from some in the MMA community, with many taking aim at Adesanya’s less-than-exciting performance. The bout lacked action as the counter-striking expert hung back for large portions of the 25-minute scrap and Cannonier was hesitant to engage.
One individual who wasn’t a fan of Adesanya’s fight was Cejudo, who took to his “The Triple C & Schmo Show” to give his thoughts post-fight. And in short, the former bantamweight and flyweight champion called on the UFC to stop putting resources into promoting The Last Stylebender.
“It’s crazy when you come out to freaking, to The Undertaker [theme song], and you didn’t put on a performance, man, on Saturday night,” Cejudo said via MMA News. “It was lame, dude. You gotta start giving, main events are special, dude. If he’s not performing, UFC, stop pushing this dude. He’s a decision-maker.”
Cejudo Also Called Out Adesanya for Not Delivering on His Promise to Deliver a Highlight-Reel Performance
Before UFC 276, Adesanya talked a lot about prioritizing adding to his highlight reel above anything else. But, that’s not what happened inside the Octagon, Cejudo said.
“He hypes a lot, and he doesn’t deliver,” Cejudo said. “He talks a lot, and he doesn’t deliver. It’s been like that with him for a minute now. And I think if you’re gonna call people out and do all this other stuff, finish them.
“Put a beating on people. Be spectacular. People look forward more to his entrance than his actual fight, and that’s a problem because what you do wanna be good at is when you fight.”
Cejudo Apologized to Adesanya, Said He Was Being ‘A Little Hater’
In a recent interview with ESPN’s Marc Raimondi, Cejudo said a recent dream he had changed the way he viewed The Last Stylebender’s performance, and that he wanted to extend an apology to the 185-pound champion.
“I had a crazy dream with Stylebender,” Cejudo said via MMA News. “It was crazy because if Stylebender was my actual friend, and if he’s winning, then I would be like, ‘You know what? It doesn’t matter (how you fight) because you’re winning.’ You know what I’m saying? The dude is still winning. It may be boring, but he’s still winning. I just felt like in my dream, I felt like I was being a little hater.
“I felt like I had a one-on-one conversation with him. It was a trip. And I actually woke up from it, and it was almost like he was super angry with me. He wanted to hit me… I just feel like things happen for a reason. And I just wanna say that I apologize to him, because I think I talked a little bit too much on Stylebender. I wanna wish him luck and I think he’s gonna have a great fight with [Alex] Pereira… Winners win, and I cannot hate on that.”