Mario Bautista represents the new breed of fighters, currently competing in the bantamweight division of the UFC. The submission specialist recently beat veteran Jose Aldo by a razor-thin margin at UFC 307, extending his winning streak to seven. With the added momentum of beating a legend in the sport, Bautista set his sights on another potential legend in Henry Cejudo. The Olympian, however, isn’t warm to the idea of facing Bautista, and found the need to reiterate his position in the sport, as well as his accolades. Both fighters crossed paths backstage at LFA 196, and the rising Mario Bautista wasted no time in challenging ‘Triple C’ to a fight.

Taken back and visibly annoyed by the sudden challenge, Henry Cejudo put his foot down, saying, “You can’t be so damn boring, bro. Nobody’s gonna fight you like that [after your fight with Aldo]. Listen, [I am the] Olympic champ, flyweight champ, bantamweight champ. What have you done?” Bautista made sure to remind Cejudo of his 2-fight losing spree, while he comparing it to his 7-fight winning streak. 

Not one to back down, ‘Triple C’ retorted, “But look who I lost to. At that time that guy was the current champ, and the other guy is now the former champ. Are you gonna f***ing n*t-grab? What are you gonna do?” Despite the initial shut down, Cejudo promised that he would do whatever the matchmakers would ask him to do. But when the Nevada-born fighter urged him to take up the fight, Cejudo sternly said, “You haven’t done anything!” 

This wasn’t the first time Bautista called Cejudo out. When he rose victorious over Aldo, he called Cejudo out for a fight. In response to the callout, ‘Triple C’ snubbed Bautista in favor of the ‘King of Rio’. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), he wrote, “I couldn’t hear him with Baldo’s b*lls in his mouth all night. You don’t get a fight with Triple C after a performance like that! I’d rather fight Baldo.”

As soon as the video clip of the duo’s confrontation at the LFA event began trending on social media, fight fans quickly  jumped in, commenting on the power move by the former Olympian and dual-weight champion.

Henry Cejudo receives unforeseen support as he takes a stand against Mario Bautista

The razor think decision victory over Aldo left some fans thinking that Mario Bautista actually lost that bout. Echoing this sentiment, one fan mocked Bautista’s claims that he defeated the Hall of Famer, and wrote, “’I just beat Aldo’ – uhm.. 3 people at ringside may have favored you but in no world can you say you ‘beat him in a fight’. You avoided conflict at all costs and held him against the cage. Anytime, any type of combat was involved you got beaten up.”

‘Triple C’ standing his ground against Bautista and shutting his request to fight definitely had fight fans excited. Cejudo’s earlier X (formerly Twitter) comment about Bautista losing to Aldo, had one fan agreeing with the former champ – “Henry out here standing up for the fans and putting Mario in his place. Love to see it. Now he just has to beat him for us too.” Expressing an interest to watch them throw down, another fan wrote, “Henry needs to fight him and knock him out in the first round.” One more fan took note of Bautista being unable to counter Cejudo’s power move and commented, “Bautista [is] frozen lmao, [he] couldn’t handle the pressure. Cejudo: 10-8. [This] might be the only matchup where I’d root for Cejudo too.”

Needless to say, ‘Triple C’ is one of the more decorated fighters in the UFC with accolades to back it up. Winning the the Men’s Freestyle bantamweight division in Wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics gave Cejudo a strong base in MMA. He was also the youngest American to win Wrestling gold at the Olympics back then. Add to these, him winning the flyweight and bantamweight titles put him in the upper echelons of combat sports athletes. One user decided to reflect on Cejudo’s greatness and wrote, “Bro [people] literally forget [about] triple C, dude was an icon. GOAT.” Meanwhile, another comment read, “HENRY CEJUDO COMEBACK YEA BABY.”

Nevertheless, it’s highly unlikely that Cejudo will fight Bautista anytime soon. But then again, it all depends on the matchmakers. What are your thoughts about the confrontation between Cejudo and Bautista? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.