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Henry Cejudo says Conor McGregor has a greater chance of defeating a current UFC champion than Michael Chandler. Nearly two years after suffering a broken leg in his loss to Dustin Poirier, the ‘Notorious’ one is set for a return to the Octagon against Chandler, though at a different weight class.
Instead of lightweight, McGregor vs. Chandler is set for welterweight, which confuses Cejudo since his fellow former two-division UFC champion says he wants a title shot with a win against ‘Iron’ in their upcoming fight. If UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is his goal, then Cejudo questions why McGregor would accept this fight at welterweight.
“So if he wins at 170, then he gets an automatic title shot at 155?”, said Cejudo on his official YouTube channel. “You think that’s fair?”
Henry Cejudo: Leon Edwards is ‘more winnable fight‘ for Conor McGregor
However, the title shot McGregor was referring to was one against UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards. Ahead of this third fight with Kamaru Usman at UFC 286 this past March, ‘Rocky’ responded to McGregor, saying he would want a fight with him next.
Of course, Edwards was interested, saying, ‘if it happens, it happens,’ but his primary focus was on the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ and the rest of his division. The 31-year-old went on to successfully defend against Usman, defeating him via majority decision. Though other opponents such as Colby Covington and Belal Muhammad are potential options for Edwards, ‘Triple C’ says the promotion should also consider McGregor, pending the result of the Chandler fight.
To Cejudo, McGregor would do well against Edwards.
“I think Leon Edwards might be a more winnable fight for him than Michael Chandler,” said Cejudo. “Because Michael Chandler may bring in that wrestling. He may bring in that All-American wrestling — he was an All-American wrestler for the University of Missouri. Part of Ben Askren’s, so he’s been in these positions before.
“With Leon, Leon’s going to be stubborn, try to keep it on his feet,” continued Cejudo. “I still think Leon could beat him, but I think if there’s one fighter that he does have a better chance at, they’re both southpaws, it probably is with Leon Edwards.”
Henry Cejudo gives advice to Conor McGregor ahead of return
When Henry Cejudo was retired, he spent most of his time assessing other fighters, including McGregor. The former two-division UFC champion even uploaded a video about what the Irishman needed to do to return to form. Though he would never coach McGregor, Cejudo still gave advice to the Irishman ahead of his return against Chandler.
“I think the biggest thing Conor could do is adjust his stance,” said Cejudo at his UFC 288 media day (video provided by MMA Fighting). “He’s too heavy on that lead leg. He needs to go back to — he’s not an attacker. Conor anticipates and he counters well. Start bringing people into you, man. Notice when he started getting a little too aggressive, he started coming in too forward and people started understanding his bluff. He throws too much power.
“I think he needs to go back to his analogy of precision beats power. But his distance is off right now, his position is off.”
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