Henry Cejudo wants to fight Sean O’Malley next. After ‘Suga’ was beaten, and overthrown comprehensively by Merab Dvalishvili in their UFC 306 bout on Saturday, the former two-division champion, who has very real animosity with O’Malley and has been feuding with him online, has floated himself as the Montana native’s next opponent. But, since ‘Triple C’ is a wrestler, just like Merab, he suspects ‘Suga’ will not be down for it, fearing a repeat of the Noche disaster for himself.

With O’Malley’s lack of wrestling ability being on full display on UFC 306, Cejudo suspects ‘Suga’ will choose to face another striker like Petr Yan next and not risk another unfavorable matchup. In which case, the former Olympic gold medalist would rather move back down to flyweight, the division he originally fought in before moving up to 135.

“I personally, I would love to fight him [Sean O’Malley]. I think with all the trolling that we have done to each other, we both live in the same damn city. But I just don’t think that he’s going to want to fight me particularly right after this performance that Merab did to him. I think moving forward is if Sean O’Malley is willing and wants to fight this troll, who’s the true king of Arizona, well then here I am. But if not Kush, I’m making my way back down to 125 pounds man because I’m not gonna waste my time,” Cejudo told co-host Kamaru Usman on their ‘Pound 4 Pound’ podcast.

Cejudo, of course, is coming off a loss to Dvalishvili himself earlier this year. However, the former Olympian had a much better showing than O’Malley in his fight with ‘The Machine’, having managed to knockdown the Georgian in the first round of their UFC 298 clash.

This is perhaps why Cejudo fancies his chances against ‘Suga’ and has called on UFC CEO Dana White to make the O’Malley fight happen. But since the UFC doesn’t really force any fighter to take a matchup, especially one of the standing of ‘Suga’, the decision is up to the sublime striker. And moving back down to flyweight is probably the best move he could make, given his recent form at bantamweight.

Why Henry Cejudo wants to move back down to flyweight

Henry Cejudo, of course, had shockingly won the flyweight title by beating GOAT contender Demetrious Johnson (who up to that point looked nigh unstoppable) back in 2017. After defending it just once, moved up to fight for (and win) the then-vacant bantamweight title in 2018, becoming a concurrent two-division champion.

But ‘Triple C’ vacated the 125-pound soon after and has remained at 135, even as he retired temporarily in 2020, eventually coming back in 2023 to face then-bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling on UFC 288. However, since coming back, he has had a horrible run of form, losing all two fights he has been in, first to Sterling and most recently to Dvalishvili.

And with Cejudo clearly unable to get a foothold in the 135-pound division, he is hoping a drop down to 125 will do the trick. After all, ‘Triple C’, who is known for his world-class wrestling will undoubtedly especially be more effective against the smaller guys at flyweight. Do you think Sean O’Malley will accept Henry Cejudo’s call-out for a fight?