Cejudo: I'd come out of retirement to fight Volkanovski

Henry Cejudo would be willing to return to mixed martial arts for a fight against UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, the former two-division titleholder told TMZ on Monday.

"There would only be one fight that would really bring me back, that would really wake me up in the morning," Cejudo said. "That's against, other than (boxer) Ryan Garcia, it would be Alexander Volkanovski, that overgrown midget. I would love to make him bend the knee because he's already halfway there."

Cejudo retired from the sport in May after successfully defending the bantamweight title against Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 in Jacksonville. The 33-year-old officially relinquished his belt later that month, and the promotion announced Tuesday a vacant title bout between Petr Yan and Jose Aldo for UFC 251 in July.

Cejudo, who won the 135-pound title in June 2019, is also a former flyweight champion. He held that belt from August 2018 to December 2019, when he vacated it. The Arizona native became the first in UFC history to defend two different titles with his second-round TKO over Cruz.

If "Triple C" were to fight Volkanovski and win, he'd become the first fighter in promotion history to capture belts in three different weight classes. Cejudo said he would like to accomplish that feat so he can "be different."

"There's a lot of champ champs," he said. "Obviously there's only one 'Triple C,' there's only one Olympic champ, flyweight champ, bantamweight champion of the world. But (it would be) just to cement it and go in the history books as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time."