Cejudo: Wrestling ‘a lot tougher than MMA,’ but UFC career provides a living

Henry Cejudo (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) made his highly anticipated octagon debut at this past weekend’s UFC on FOX 13 event in Phoenix.

The former Olympic gold-medalist wrestler scored a dominant unanimous decision win over Dustin Kimura (11-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC) that evening.

Following his first career UFC victory, Cejudo discussed his wrestling past and how it compares to MMA (quotes via mmajunkie):

“I hope nobody takes offense to this, but I think (wrestling is) a lot tougher than MMA,” Cejudo said. “When you become the best in the world in wrestling, you’re the best in the world. This isn’t two, three events. This is once every four years.”

With that said, MMA has provided Cejudo with the ability to make a ‘real living’, something that wrestling could not:

“You can ask Daniel Cormier, we used to get paid like $1,500 to win Nationals, or like $3,000 to be the best in the country. Here, it’s 30, 40, 50, 60 – a hundred thousand you can end up making,” he said. “It’s not so much MMA is the next step up, because it’s not. And you can confirm it with Daniel Cormier and some of the best wrestlers, but I feel like it’s just a way we can make a living and buy a nice car and have a nice home.”

Thoughts?