Dana White: Henry Cejudo wants to fight Jose Aldo next
Jose Aldo came up short in his bantamweight debut but that won’t stop him from receiving a title shot if the reigning champion has anything to say about it.
After three hard-fought rounds, Aldo came away on the losing side of a split decision to Marlon Moraes but even UFC president Dana White believed he deserved the nod.
“I had Aldo winning that fight,” White said at the UFC 245 post fight press conference.
White’s scoring seemed to match 135-pound king Henry Cejudo, who apparently texted the UFC president after the fights ended.
According to White, Cejudo not only disagreed with Aldo coming away with the split decision loss but he would actually like to grant him the next bantamweight title shot.
“Henry Cejudo texted me tonight and said ‘that’s bullsh*t, he didn’t lose that fight, he won that fight, and I want to treat him like he did.’ He wants to fight Jose Aldo,” White revealed.
When asked if he would consider booking Cejudo vs. Aldo next, White added “I don’t hate it.”
Word of that potential fight was then passed along to Petr Yan, who called out Cejudo after ending Urijah Faber’s night at UFC 245 with a devastating head kick knockout.
“What do you guys think about that,” Yan wrote on Twitter. “Let Dana White know.”
What do you guys think about that? Let @danawhite know https://t.co/3SZbumPBYp
— Petr “No Mercy” Yan (@PetrYanUFC) December 15, 2019
It’s not likely a decision will be made until early 2020 when Cejudo is actually cleared to fight again after he underwent shoulder surgery earlier this year.
Initially after winning the bantamweight title in June, White insisted that Cejudo’s next fight needed to come at flyweight where he also holds the 125-pound championship. It’s unclear if those plans have changed now but Cejudo seems to have his sights set on a bantamweight title defense against Aldo instead.