Henry Cejudo is confident that the next featherweight champion will be in action at UFC 319.
The UFC’s next pay-per-view offering takes place on August 16, when the United Center in Chicago hosts a lineup topped by a highly anticipated middleweight title clash.
Before Khamzat Chimaev challenges Dricus du Plessis in the UFC 319 main event, a co-headliner that came about on short notice could determine the future opponent for featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski.
A former two-division UFC champ, for one, has confidently predicted that ‘Alexander the Great’ will fall regardless of who wins in the ‘Windy City’.
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Henry Cejudo says the winner of Lerone Murphy vs Aaron Pico will beat Alexander Volkanovski
Ex-Bellator standout Aaron Pico was set to fight Movsar Evloev in his debut at the UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi on July 26, but the Russian was forced to withdraw through injury.
Fortunately, the promotion wasted little time in rebooking his arrival. Pico will face Lerone Murphy at UFC 319 instead, meaning the American will still fight an undefeated featherweight contender when he first enters the Octagon.
For many, Evloev’s injury has given the UFC a chance to rectify what many saw as a mistake when he was not placed against Volkanovski next. Cejudo, though, expects the winner of the August 16 co-main event to not only leapfrog the Russian, but also dethrone Volkanovski.
“The winner of this fight is gonna fight Alexander Volkanovski, and I also feel the winner of this fight is gonna become our next champion,” Cejudo said on his Pound 4 Pound podcast alongside Kamaru Usman.
“All due respect to Volk, but dude, these young guns. Lerone Murphy is fighting Aaron Pico. Aaron Pico is in his f—- prime, bro. Power, wrestling; he has been a manchild since he was a kid, already competing at the highest levels while in high school, beating world champions.
“And then Lerone Murphy, what he has been able to do to a lot of these fighters, man,” Cejudo continued. “Undefeated, very tricky, brings in a lot of the wrestling; he’s different, he’s like Merab (Dvalishvili).
“I’m excited for this co-main event. I think this co-main event is the most competitive fight, in my opinion, on this whole (UFC 319) fight card.”
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Aaron Pico was questioned for accepting UFC 319 fight
While Cejudo believes a victory over Murphy will be enough to net Pico a first UFC title shot and ultimately set up his crowning as champion, not everyone is on board with the matchup.
Former Strikeforce champion and UFC contender Josh Thomson questioned why Pico accepted the UFC 319 fight during an episode of his Weighing In podcast with John McCarthy.
“I have no idea why you took this fight,” Thomson said of Pico. “You went from Evloev, who’s basically considered to be the number one contender…stylistically, this (Murphy) is a tough fight.
“I’m not saying that Aaron can’t win this fight. This is a tougher fight for him than the Evloev fight. I wanted to see the Evloev fight because the two of them can wrestle. The boxing favors Pico a little bit.
“That’s the fight that I always wanted to see, so I’m being sour right now,” Thomson added.