Henry Carlos Cejudo (born February 9, 1987) is an American professional mixed martial artist and former freestyle wrestler.
[15] Born to Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles, California, Cejudo is the second youngest of the family's seven siblings.
[16][17][18] As a result of his violent father's drug and alcohol abuse, Cejudo's family constantly moved around the Los Angeles area.
[16] When Cejudo was four, his mother fled to New Mexico with her children before his father, who was jailed after threatening to kill his whole family and subsequently getting into an altercation in the street, was released.
In Phoenix, the family lived in Maryvale in poverty despite their mother working multiple jobs to make the ends meet.
[20][16] Cejudo never slept alone in his own bed until he was provided one by USA Wrestling while participating in a residency program at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado.
[21] He also started competing as an amateur boxer, and won the annual state Copper Gloves boxing tournament in 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona.
He won the Colorado state championships (CHSAA) as a junior and senior, and was named ASICS "National High School Wrestler of the Year" in 2006.
[31] There, he prepared for the U20 World Championships; after a fifth-place finish in 2005, Cejudo was able to claim the silver medal for the United States team.
He earned notable victories over NCAA champion Jason Powell and three-time All-American Tanner Gardner before finishing fifth.
[33] On April 15, 2006, he won the US National Championship at 55 kilograms, qualifying for the US World Team Trials[34] and becoming the first high schooler to do so since the organization (USAW) was established as the sport's governing body in 1983.
[35] At the World Team Trials, he defeated an eventual accomplished wrestler in Franklin Gómez in the opening match of the Challenge Tournament before making it to the best-of-three finals.
[29] In April 7, he claimed his second US National title while compiling wins over collegiate and international standout Nick Simmons and two-time All-American Vic Moreno.
[44] He failed to secure his third consecutive US National title after he was pinned by Matt Azevedo, not before defeating recent All-American Obe Blanc.
[48][49] This made Cejudo the youngest American to win Olympic Gold in wrestling history at age 21[50] (record was later broken by Kyle Snyder, 20, in 2016).
[13] Soon after his exhibition match with Ramos, Cejudo flirted with the possibility of making a 2016 Olympic Run, however, his intentions never materialized.
[65] He defeated Michael Poe by TKO due to punches in his MMA debut on March 2, 2013, for the Arizona-based World Fighting Federation.
[71] In light of this, and his history of missing weight, president Dana White said Cejudo had to move up to bantamweight or leave the UFC.
[72] In his eventual debut, Cejudo faced Dustin Kimura in a bantamweight bout on December 13, 2014, at UFC on Fox 13.
In turn, Cejudo faced Jussier Formiga on November 21, 2015, at The Ultimate Fighter Latin America 2 Finale.
[105] Double champion On April 9, 2019, USADA announced that Dillashaw had tested positive for EPO in pre and post-fight screenings and had been suspended for two years.
[108] This win made Cejudo the fourth fighter to hold championships simultaneously in two weight divisions in UFC, and earned him the Performance of the Night award.
[110] In December 2019, Cejudo agreed to relinquish the UFC Flyweight title in order to focus on the bantamweight division.
[128][129] Cejudo made an appearance on the May 27, 2020 episode of AEW Dynamite alongside fellow MMA fighters Rashad Evans and Vitor Belfort to support Mike Tyson in confronting members of Chris Jericho's Inner Circle.
Two months later, Cejudo confirmed he was in talks with AEW about potentially signing a contract, stating that he was also considering competing in amateur wrestling as well.