Henry Cejudo added another giant name to his resume, defending his bantamweight title with a stoppage win over Dominick Cruz at UFC 249.
The co-main event of UFC 249 was easily a headliner in itself. Henry Cejudo, the cringe-worthy “Triple C” – winner of Olympic gold, UFC flyweight gold, and heading into the night, the reigning UFC bantamweight champion.
Across from him would stand a blast from the past. Dominick Cruz, who not once but twice reigned with the UFC’s 135lb title. A WEC champion before that, many consider him the greatest bantamweight of all time.
The trash talk heading into the pair’s meeting on Saturday was… voluminous. The fight was something else entirely.
Cruz started off with his awkward movement instantly, he looked a weight class larger than Cejudo. Cejudo fired off a leg kick to start, and Cruz countered with one of his own. Cejudo began chopping Cruz down with some hard leg kicks. Cruz stepped in with a nice knee to the body and Cejudo took him down for a moment before Cruz sprang back up. Cruz then dove on a takedown of his own, but Cejudo stuffed it. Cruz landed a quick kick to the body followed by a right hook. Cejudo blitzed in on Cruz with a quick combination but Cruz evaded most of it. Cruz landed a leg kick of his own followed by a 1-2. It was a good opening round for the champion.
Cruz opened up with a nice combination to start round two. Cejudo went right back to his gameplan of leg kicks in round two, but Cruz was doing a slightly better job of checking them to open the round. Cejudo went up and landed a nice left hook on Cruz, and Cruz responded with a nice combination that landed clean. Cruz landed a clean right hand against the cage and Cejudo responded with a clean right of his own. Cruz landed a nice leg kick of his own that buckled Cejudo, but he recovered. There was a big accidental headbutt that opened up Cejudo instantly, and the doctor was called in but Cejudo was ruled to continue. Cejudo dropped Cruz with a knee and followed up with strikes! Cejudo jumped on with some ground and pound and the fight is over! Cruz immediately protested, and Joe Rogan also disagreed with the call.
Henry Cejudo has now notched another name on his belt, adding him to the contention for one of the greatest fighters of all-time. His last four wins are Demetrious Johnson, T.J. Dillashaw, Marlon Moraes, and Dominick Cruz.
Henry Cejudo def. Dominick Cruz by TKO (Knee and Punches) in Round 2 (4:58)
