The clock is ticking on what could be one of the most intriguing stylistic clashes in bantamweight history. Henry Cejudo and Sean O’Malley’s rivalry has evolved from social media barbs into a legitimate grudge match that fans are clamoring to see, but time isn’t on their side. The Olympic gold medalist and former ‘champ-champ’, now 38, sits at a career crossroads while still possessing the tools to potentially derail the O’Malley hype train.

‘Triple C’ has been openly campaigning for the fight, but there’s a shadow looming over any potential matchup. Merab Dvalishvili’s dominant wrestling display against O’Malley at UFC 306. Cejudo, with his wrestling pedigree, believes this recent loss has made O’Malley even more hesitant to sign on the dotted line. After all, if Merab’s wrestling caused such problems, what might an Olympic champion do? However, as said before, Father Time threatens to make this dream matchup nothing more than a “what if” in MMA history.

“Yeah, I would love that fight. I think it’s a great matchup for me. I think Merab proved it. And yeah, that would be a great fight. I just don’t think he wants to fight me. I don’t think he has the ba-ls enough to fight me. And it would be big numbers too, especially because it would be in Phoenix,” Cejudo said.

Indeed, there is no doubt their fight would do good numbers. O’Malley is one of the UFC’s biggest stars and Cejudo has always been popular among fans. However, ‘Triple C’ is correct. If you were O’Malley’s coach and were coming off of being dog-walked by Merab Dvalishvili and his world-class wrestling at UFC 306, you would also advise ‘Suga’ to look for someone other than another world-class wrestler like Cejudo.

However, the other thing about O’Malley is that he is a company man through and through. Dana White, for instance, said last year for having “that McGregor mentality…He’s a smart kid, he you know, understands the business.” which is to say that ‘Suga’ is ready to face whoever and whenever the promotion wants him to. This is why Cejudo feels that a lot depends on “what the UFC wants to do.”

As far as O’Malley goes, however, Cejudo feels confident that “he just wants to go with strikers. He doesn’t want to deal with a style like mine.” The Olympic gold medallist then added something that would make the former champ shudder and make sure he doesn’t fight ‘Triple C’. “I would do the same game plan Merab did,” Cejudo said, making clear his game plan would be to take ‘Suga’ down early and often and maul him there. But before Cejudo even thinks about fighting O’Malley, he has some serious business that needs to be taken care of.

Song Yadong promises to retire Henry Cejudo

Henry Cejudo’s next fight is a very important one. The former two-division champ is set to face young up-and-comer #8-ranked Song Yadong at UFC Seattle on Saturday. And this fight is pretty consequential for Cejudo, and may well determine the course of the rest of his career. Thankfully, this matchup is favorable to ‘Triple C’. Yadong, after all, is as much a pure boxer as you would get in the sport of MMA, which means that the American could well pull a Merab on him and maul him on the ground.

If ‘Triple C’ wins this fight, he could make his way back into title contention for one last hurrah. On the other hand, if he loses, he may be relegated to a gatekeeper role at the top of the division for the rest of his fighting days, given his age. Moreover, Yadong is determined to make sure the Olympian retires sooner rather than later.

“Yeah, I think if he lost this one, this is his last fight, the last round… This will be the last fight in Seattle. Time is over, it’s time to retire,” the Chinese bantamweight ominously told ‘MMA Fighting’ in a recent interview. This, of course, would mean we will never get to see Sean O’Malley and Cejudo resolve their beef. And that would be a real shame. What do you think about Henry Cejudo’s comments about Sean O’Malley?