Former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo didn't take long to poke his upcoming opponent Song Yadong just weeks out from UFC Seattle.
Henry Cejudo will headline the UFC's highly anticipated return to Seattle on February 22 against rising contender Song Yadong. Despite a heated showdown with another rising bantamweight prospect, Cejudo welcomes Yadong back to the Octagon in one of the first intriguing bouts of 2025.
Cejudo's return to the bantamweight division comes after back-to-back losses to Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili since returning from a three-year fighting hiatus. He retired after a controversial win over Dominick Cruz in the UFC 249 co-main event.
Cejudo and Yadong have no significant history of bad blood during their tenure in the bantamweight division. While Cejudo has embraced the persona of a cringe king, Yadong has taken a more modest approach to promoting his fights and letting his performances do the talking.
Still, that didn't stop Cejudo from ramping up the pre-fight trash talk ahead of the UFC Fight Night headliner on Feb. 22.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Henry Cejudo pokes fun at Song Yadong after booking at UFC Seattle
“Song YaDone is ruined,” Cejudo posted in a recent Instagram comment. (h/t MMANews)
As of this writing, Yadong has not responded to Cejudo's comments.
Cejudo initially teased a return to the flyweight division following his loss to Dvalishvili at UFC 298. But years since vacating the UFC flyweight belt, Cejudo has not fought at 125 pounds after defeating former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw in January 2019.
Yadong is looking to make a big statement on his return after being briefly linked with a fight against Umar Nurmagomedov last year. He hasn't competed since a unanimous decision loss to former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan at UFC 299.
Cejudo is also fighting and still has a lot to prove since coming out of retirement at UFC 288 against Sterling. He wants to regain the form that saw him beat a host of top names such as Demetrious Johnson, Sergio Pettis and Marlon Moraes.
Henry Cejudo is seeking his first UFC win since relinquishing the bantamweight title
Yadong defeated Chris Gutierrez and Ricky Simon in impressive back-to-back performances following a TKO loss to Cory Sandhagen. The narrow defeat to Yan ended what initially looked like a meteoric rise to the title picture.
Cejudo vs. Yadong takes place just weeks after the upcoming UFC 311 co-headliner between bantamweight champion Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov. The winner of Cejudo vs. Yadong could potentially catapult back into the title conversation and become a #1 contender.
Ahead of UFC Seattle, tensions are rising between the top two bantamweight contenders. Despite the fact that attacking Yadong is a difficult undertaking, Cejudo doesn't miss an opportunity to pay more attention to his fights.
Related posts
Comments