Former UFC Champ Henry Cejudo to Return From Retirement, Enter Testing Pool

For the first time since 2020, the double champ is preparing to get into the octagon.

Henry Cejudo plants to re-enter himself into the USADA drug-testing pool on Monday, a sign that he plans on coming out of retirement, his manager Ali Abdelaziz told ESPN.

The first sign that Cejudo was considering coming out of retirement came following UFC 273 on Saturday night, when he tweeted, “I’m getting back in the pool!!” 

“Henry will focus on his fight and training,” Abdelaziz told ESPN. “He never stopped training. I truly believe Henry can come back to win the [bantamweight] title and go up to [featherweight] and win that. He will be the only fighter in UFC history to win three world titles.”

It appears that Cejudo has his eyes set on the featherweight division. After Alexander Volkanovski defeated Chan Sung on Saturday to retain his featherweight title, he sent a clear message to fellow competitors in his post-fight interview.

“Everyone in my division, I’ve been saying it for a while now, get your s--- together,“ Volkanovski said. “Earn that number one spot and you get it. If not, you’re going to f---ing miss out. It’s that simple.”

Cejudo saw Volkanovski’s post-fight comments and took to Twitter to address them.

@alexvolkanovski you’ve inspired me to come back. When it comes to wrestling…you couldn’t pin a tweet. I would take you down and choke you out quicker than a McGregor relapse. Sign the contract. https://t.co/3gX1oI1bNO

— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) April 10, 2022

“You’ve inspired me to come back. When it comes to wrestling…you couldn’t pin a tweet. I would take you down and choke you out quicker than a McGregor relapse. Sign the contract.”

The two-time world title fighter will be subjected to six months of drug testing before being able to fight. 

Could Volkanovski be his first match? Time will tell.