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Henry Cejudo was 'scared' after bad weight cut, will now fight at bantamweight

Joe Chan / Reuters

Of all people, Henry Cejudo is someone you would expect to have a good handle on how best to cut weight in advance of a weigh-in.

After all, Cejudo is a long-time wrestler, winning four state championships in high school and ultimately winning a gold medal for the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Conceivably, the 27-year-old has been making weight for more than a decade.

Ahead of his would-be UFC debut at UFC 177, Cejudo (6-0 in MMA action) pulled out of the fight due to medical issues associated with his weight cut. With the same fate befalling Renan Barao on that card, the best practices for weight-cutting have been called into question

Cejudo seems to be backing that up, suggesting cutting weight has become more difficult as he's aged:

"Everything was good, I had gotten down to 130 the night before the weigh-ins, and I was only four pounds away from my goal. And that night I just had severe cramping. I couldn't sleep. Every 10 minutes or so I had cramping going on in my back, in my thigh, in my foot, just pretty much every part of my body. It's not that I'm fat or I'm overweight, I'm very lean. My body had pretty much just taken a toll. And it's happened a couple of times already. I've always thought I could get down to - because I've done it my whole life - get down to 125, but it's a little different now. I'm much older."

Perhaps more notably for the debate that may or may not be heating up, Cejudo cops to having been scared by the issues that popped up during the process:

"It's just that I think my body has just grown and I think if I ever make 125, if the UFC would ever allow me, there would have to be more science involved into my weight cuts. It can't just be toughness and strong and willful minded, because that's just going to put me in a coffin. And people who know me realize I come from a Mexican background. I'm an American, but I'm willing to go through death for a lot of things ... but maybe not quite, maybe that's not true. That night just scared me a little bit."

As a result of Cejudo's issue making 125 pounds, he'll be given another chance to make his UFC debut, but only after agreeing to fight in the 135-pound bantamweight division.

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