Chael Sonnen has a new theory as to why Henry Cejudo never retired after losing to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288.
Three-time UFC title challenger and MMA broadcaster believes a close fight between Sterling, bantamweight contender Sean O’Malley and Sterling’s tag teammate Merab Dvalishvili has given Cejudo time to reconsider returning to retirement.
“He was going to retire,” Sonnen said Wednesday. MMA watch. “I’ll tell you how I feel about it. He took off the gloves—at that moment, he retired. They took a long time to get to him.”
“Between his decision that he’s going to retire and then finally getting to him – and imagine you’re Henry, you’re in the ring, your heart broken, your glove in your hand. You’ll throw them down, and you’ll go away, the right way. Not the way you did last time, you regret the way you did it last Once, with a pipe bomb.You’ll actually say and you’ll have the celebration.
“Meanwhile, you’re watching the three top-ranking guys at your weight, all three doing what you wish they could do—one putting on a belt, one putting on a belt, one getting the crowd excited, one getting ready to be the next guy. You’re sitting there and you’re looking at it and you’re like, ‘I want this, I want all this.'” “And I want it from them all. If I walk, they take everything. If I stay, they won’t. He changed his mind. When he took off those gloves, if they would have come to him sooner, as they should, he would have retired by now. They came to him too late. He changed his mind.”
Order was eventually restored between Sterling, O’Malley and Dvalishvili, and Cejudo was interviewed by UFC commentator Joe Rogan without a glove. The former Division Two champion has grappled with the question of what’s next in his career.
He’s like Ricky Bobby [in the movie Talladega Nights]If I am not first, said Cejudo, then I am last. “If I couldn’t beat Aljo – my biggest goal was to get the weight up to 145 lbs, and if I couldn’t get the victory… [Sterling]I don’t know where that puts me.”
Cejudo continued to question his future in the post-event press conference for UFC 288. But on Monday, he reversed course, calling Dvishvili a fight which the Georgian fighter quickly accepted.
Sonnen sees no reason why Cejudo should not fight.
“I mean, an official judge on Saturday said he’s the worst man in the world,” Sonnen said, referring to Sejudo’s 48-47 score for two for Sterling. Like, of course he’s still competitive, not to mention he’s been laid off. I don’t think that was the best we’ve seen Henry.
“I thought he dug really deep. I thought he worked really hard. I thought he got really tired for about 15 minutes, but he pushed it out anyway. And there was nothing I saw from a physical point of view that said retirement. I’ll just share with you because it’s fun to do, When he took those gloves off, it was over. It took him a long time to get the mic. He changed his mind.”
Sonnen, the mastermind of the promotion at all, sees nothing wrong with the way things turned out after UFC 288, especially when it came to Dvalishvili grabbing O’Malley’s coat.
“It was the best, it was the greatest thing on television,” he said, adding, “He makes up the action. He gets in there like a school bully. He dropped the jacket, and now he’s face to face with the worst man in the world. Then a bystander takes his coat and puts it on.”
“Now, cause this is a problem, Sean has to get the coat back. Otherwise he has no shirt. He’d have to go back into the audience shirtless, go back to the dressing room, get on the bus and come down to the hotel shirtless, like an idiot. He’d have to get it back.” So he goes to get it back, when he gets it back, “Aljo,” the manager in this story, is cutting a promo for what’s referred to as his backyard — I mean, I’m from Oregon, if I go to Washington state, they’re my next door neighbors, but it’s not my backyard You might be doing different things, but we’re all supposed to pretend those are his friends.
Fair enough. He’s cutting a promo. So you’ve got the best of all time [in Cejudo]who removed his gloves. Taking off the gloves sends a signal to Joe Rogan, who sends it to Craig Borsari in the truck — don’t go off no matter what, this guy is about to retire, no matter what it costs to buy an extra 15. Seconds in the window, we do it out of respect – Dana doesn’t have time to deal with that. He has to go to the corner and make Merab return the coat to Shawn Sugar.
“It was the greatest part of the night, and no one understood what was happening.”