Henry Cejudo claims fight with TJ Dillashaw is “very close” to being official

Shortly after Henry Cejudo dethroned long-time UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson at UFC 227, he called out TJ Dillashaw, who defended the UFC bantamweight title with a first-round knockout of Cody Garbrandt in the card’s main event. Cejudo’s hope, he explained, was to move up to bantamweight and challenge Dillashaw in an attempt at becoming a two-division champion.

At first, TJ Dillashaw didn’t seem receptive of this idea. More recently, however, Dillashaw has said he actually does want to fight Cejudo — though he wants to move down to flyweight to challenge Cejudo for his title, not the other way around.

“The Henry Cejudo thing entertains me so much because he’s a gold medalist,” TJ Dillashaw said on the JRE MMA Show. “He wants to claim himself as the greatest combat athlete ever. ‘I’m a UFC champion, I’m a gold medalist!’ I’ll go out there and beat you in wrestling. MMA wrestling is completely different. I’m the better athlete. I can beat him anywhere, I know I can, watching him fight. That’s why I’m very excited about it. I think it’s the greatest thing for my name right now.”

From the sounds of it, Henry Cejudo is willing to fight Dillashaw at flyweight. In fact, he seems to be down to fight the bantamweight champion at any weight class. He also says this fight is “very close” to being official.

This per reporter Phil Murphy on Twitter.

I spoke with UFC flyweight champion Henry Cejudo. He says he wants TJ Dillashaw next, not former flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson.

Cejudo says he'd take the fight at "125, 135, 155, heavyweight, whatever." He says it's "very close" to being made official.

— Phil Murphy (@Phil_Sports) September 9, 2018

“I spoke with UFC flyweight champion Henry Cejudo,” Murphy reported on Twitter. “He says he wants TJ Dillashaw next, not former flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson. Cejudo says he’d take the fight at ‘125, 135, 155, heavyweight, whatever.’ He says it’s ‘very close’ to being made official.”

If this fight does happen, it’s hard to say which card it would land on. While UFC 230 on November 3 is still awaiting a headlining bout, it’s hard to say whether TJ Dillashaw would be able to diet down to cutting distance of 125 pounds in time for this date.

Does a flyweight title super fight between TJ Dillashaw and Henry Cejudo interest you? Who do you think would come out on top?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 9/14/2018.