Former UFC Flyweight and Bantamweight Champion Henry Cejudo is determined to bounce back from his UFC 288 setback as soon as possible.

In a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, ‘Triple C’ confirmed his keen interest in serving as the back-up fighter for the main event of UFC 292. The August event is set to be headlined by UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling defending the gold against rising star Sean O’Malley. 

Back at UFC 288, ‘Funk Master’ came out victorious via split-decision in an exhausting five-round war with Cejudo. The bout marked ‘Triple C’s first Octagon appearance in over three years. 

Since then, Cejudo has called out No.1-ranked bantamweight contender, and Sterling teammater, Merab Dvalishvili for a contest. However, due to requiring surgery on his hand, ‘The Machine’ will not be up to task in the coming months. 

“It’s A Bigger Fight” – Henry Cejudo Wants Sean O’Malley Next

Not only is Cejudo up for serving as the alternate for UFC 292’s main event, he’s even gone so far as to suggest he could outright replace Sterling on the night. ‘Funk Master’ has been dealing with nagging injuries for some time now and was displeased with the short layover time between UFC 288 and UFC 292. Regardless, ‘Aljo’ has confirmed he will defend against ‘Sugar’ as planned.

Even so, Cejudo is eager for a potential Interim Title fight should Sterling ultimately back out.

“So I sent a tweet not too long, it said ‘Dana White, just say when, hashtag UFC Boston’,” Cejudo said. “ESPN MMA took that tweet and completely flipped it like I’m trying to challenge anyone, Cory Sandhagen, Umar Nurmagomedov… The reality, what I’m trying to say ladies and gentlemen is if Aljamain Sterling is playing this game that’s he not ready, he needs a little more time, then let’s make an interim fight between me and Sean O’Malley, it’s a bigger fight, it’s what the UFC wanted initially, it’s the same reason why they brought me out to chase and beat Aljamain Sterling.”

‘Triple C’ even claimed that the UFC would’ve preferred for him to beat Sterling in order to set up his own title clash with ‘Sugar’ instead. 

“I wanted Merab, and I’m still willing to wait for Merab,” Cejudo confirmed. “But if that fight with Sean O’Malley happens to open up, I’m 100 per cent in. Dana White, Hunter Campbell, UFC, I’m one hundred per cent in… if they believe that Sean O’Malley and myself would be a bigger fight, then why not make it happen?”

For now, it appears Sterling vs. O’Malley is still the plan for August 19. 

Read Also: Dominick Cruz: Henry Cejudo Winning At UFC 288 Would’ve Been “Catastrophic” For Bantamweight Division





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