Henry Cejudo: biography
Henry Cejudo is an American freestyle wrestler and mixed martial artist who has a unique biography. The man has participated and won at competitions, championships, and the Olympic Games, he is also signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship and has managed to become a champion in two weight divisions. It seems that Cejudo is not going to rest on his oars because it is not difficult for him to gain or lose a dozen pounds.
Childhood and youth
Cejudo was born in February 1987 in California, and it is difficult to identify his ethnicity. It can be assumed that he is Mexican since his parents moved to the USA from Mexico, where they were born and grew up. Henry has a lot of siblings. They were always short of money, his father almost did not support the children, since he spent most of his time at bars.
When Henry was three years old, he moved with his mother and other children to the city of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Later, they moved from one state to another, until they finally settled in Phoenix.
His older brother Angel began to go in for sports in elementary school and became a four-time state high school champion. Under his influence, the guy started freestyle wrestling training. The success of the brothers was noticed, and they began training at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. They not only trained hard there but also lived and got a scholarship.
Martial arts
Cejudo began to pursue a professional career in martial arts in 2005. At that time, the young athlete first participated in the World Junior Championships, where he finished fifth. A year later, he showed successful performances at the Pan American Championship and won a gold medal. Moreover, he got a silver medal at junior competitions.
In 2008, Henry participated in the Beijing Olympics. The fight for the Olympic gold medal had several stages. Cejudo competed with athletes in featherweight division (up to 121.25 lbs. (55 kg)). He won all fights and became the champion of the Olympic Games. Besides, he received the John Smith Award as the Freestyle Wrestler of the Year in the United States. And in 2011, he won a silver medal at the Henri Deglane Challenge and a gold medal at the Sunkist Kids International Open competitions.
He decided to leave freestyle wrestling after failing to qualify for the Olympics. So in 2013, Cejudo made his MMA debut. Henry’s first rival at the WFF MMA was his compatriot Michael Poe, whom he forced to submit in the second minute of the first round. This battle was significant for Cejudo and gave impetus to further competitions.
In April 2013, Henry had to compete with Anthony Sessions for the WFF bantamweight title. However, the fight ended too quickly for the latter. 30 seconds before the end of the first round, Cejudo threw several punches, which led to a technical knockout of the fighter.
Henry made his UFC debut in December 2014 against Dustin Kimura. The opponent turned out to be strong. Henry had to fight for all rounds of 5 minutes and demonstrate judge a refined punching technique. As a result, Cejudo won the fight by unanimous decision.
Cejudo had a long string of victories (10), which was broken in April 2016 in the fight for the UFC flyweight championship title. The American athlete’s rival was Demetrious Johnson, who defeated the opponent via technical knockout in the first round. And Henry experienced another loss in the fight with Joseph Benavidez in December. However, this time, he was not knocked out because Joseph won by unanimous decision.
Having braced his energies, Cejudo could bring back the Ashes in the battles of 2017. In September, he knocked out Wilson Reis, and in December, defeated Sergio Pettis by unanimous decision. In the summer of 2018, he attempted to win the champion title again. Demetrious Johnson was his opponent, and both athletes competed for five rounds, but Henry won the back-and-forth fight via split decision. So he finally got the UFC flyweight title.
Personal life
The fighter prefers not to make the details of his private life public. It is evident by his profile on Instagram, where the man posts photos of training and battles.
Some pictures depict him with a girl, his goddaughter. The athlete does not have a wife and children.
Henry Cejudo now
Cejudo continues to train now because he does not want to lose his championship titles. In January 2019, he fought with T.J. Dillashaw, whom he knocked out in 32 seconds and defended the champion belt.
The athlete decided to move beyond because the title in one weight division was not enough for him. So, he gained the required weight again and in June 2019 tried to compete for the vacant Bantamweight belt (his height was 5.34 ft. (163 cm), and the weight was 123.45 lbs. (56 kg)). He faced Brazilian Marlon Moraes in the title fight. The rival was defeated at the end of the third round via a technical knockout. So, Cejudo won the UFC belts in two weight divisions at once. And then he asked the promotion to increase his income.
Nowadays, Henry Cejudo has a net worth of $1 million.
Achievements
- 2006 – Gold medal at the Pan American Championships (Wrestling)
- 2006 – Silver medal at the World Junior Wrestling Championship
- 2007 – Bronze medal at Wrestling World Cup
- 2007 – USA Wrestling national freestyle championship
- 2007 – Gold medal at the Pan American Championships (Wrestling)
- 2008 – Gold medal at the Summer Olympics (Wrestling)
- 2011 – Gold medal at Sunkist Kids International Open
- 2013 – WFF Bantamweight Champion
- 2018 – UFC Flyweight Champion
