Henry Cejudo retires following UFC 249 title defense

After his second round TKO win over Dominick Cruz at Saturday’s UFC 249, bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo announced his retirement in the cage.

Riding a six fight win streak, the 33-year-old said he was happy with his career, that he’s done enough in the sport, wants to enjoy himself, and start a family.

After defending his UFC bantamweight title, @HenryCejudo unexpectedly announced his retirement from the sport of MMA #UFC249pic.twitter.com/5jIhrp4LsC

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 10, 2020

If this is indeed the end, he leaves behind an impressive resume that began to take off with his August 2018 split decision win over Demetrious Johnson to end his record run as UFC flyweight champion.

Cejudo (16-2) followed that up nearly a year later with a dominant third round TKO win over Marlon Moraes to win the vacant bantamweight title, earning the rare designation as double champion. He also successfully defended the flyweight title with a 33 second TKO win over T.J. Dillashaw on the first-ever ESPN+ event in January 2019.

He was stripped of the flyweight title last December but the subsequent vacant title fight between Joe Benavidez and Deiveson Figueiredo ended without a champion as the winner (Figueiredo) missed weight and was ineligible to win the title.

Cejudo was a standout amateur wrestler, winning a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in freestyle, the youngest American to ever do so at the time.