Alexander Volkanovski says Henry Cejudo fight would be “a waste of time”

Reigning UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski believes a fight with former bantamweight and flyweight champ Henry Cejudo would be “a waste of time.”

Cejudo retired earlier this year, after a TKO win over Dominick Cruz. Despite his retirement, he’s been adamant that he’s interested in returning to the cage for the opportunity to challenge Volkanovski for the featherweight belt.

Volkanovski has repeatedly snubbed these callouts from Cejudo, and did so again on the latest episode of Submission Radio, calling the potential fight “a waste of time.”

“He definitely lives up to his name when it’s the cringe, but I always thought the cringe was just things he said, but now it’s getting cringey how much he’s begging for a title fight,” Volkanovski. “He just doesn’t stop. It’s cringey how you retire, and you call out everyone, stirring shit everywhere. It just seems like he’s even stirring the pot in the divisions that he retired in. He’s still getting lippy to some of the guys back down there, but obviously he’s calling me out. And again, if it was gonna happen it was earlier in the year. But again, I’ve got a division to hold and I’ve got my eye on the division. I want these number one contenders. And if for some reason the UFC pushed that [Cejudo fight] on me, like I said, I’ve got to get paid for it, because it’s just a waste of time for me, I believe. A waste of time for the division.”

Cejudo’s desire to challenge Volkanovski stems from his ambition to become a three-division champion—the first in UFC history.

According to Volkanovski, however, it would simply never happen.

“He’s done great things in flyweight and bantamweight, but I mean, featherweight is whole different beast,” Volkanovski said. “That’s why it’s never been done. I get why he wants to chase it. It makes sense. Again, it’s a win-win for him. I go out there and mop the floor with him, ‘ah yeah, he’s a lot bigger, blah, blah, blah’. That’s why it just doesn’t make sense for me, cause everyone’s just going to sort of expect me to go out there and mop the floor. And that’s pretty much exactly what’s going to happen. No disrespect to Henry Cejudo, but it’s a whole different breed in this division. So, it would just be a waste of time.”

Does a fight between Alexander Volkanovski