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 UFC 298 on Feb. 17 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

With Aljamain Sterling booked for his featherweight debut, the winner of the Cejudo vs. Dvalishvili clash is expected to fight for the title next against the winner of Sean O’Malley’s UFC 299 title clash against longtime rival Marlon Vera.

However, if the 36-year-old Cejudo comes up short at UFC 298, he would consider calling it a career again.

“This is for the No. 1 contender spot,” he told 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.