Two-weight UFC champion confirms he's retiring after next fight in emotional meeting with President Donald Trump

03/24/2025 08:34 PM

President Donald Trump was the first to learn that one of the greatest UFC fighters of all time is hanging up his gloves.

Henry Cejudo, the former two-weight world champion, has been on a losing streak since returning to the octagon in 2023 after a lengthy initial retirement. He hung up the gloves in 2020 after defending his bantamweight belt, but came back to challenge Aljamain Sterling years later.

Cejudo famously dethroned the seemingly unbeatable Demetrious Johnson to win his flyweight title and is also an Olympic gold medalist in wrestling. However, his return to the octagon has been fraught with difficult matchups and most recently an eye-poke controversy in his defeat to Song Yadong.

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Henry Cejudo tells Donald Trump he will retire after one more fight

During this weekend’s NCAA Wrestling Championships, Henry Cejudo had a brief meeting with President Donald Trump at ringside. He is one of Trump’s favourite fighters, and has been an outspoken supporter of his campaigns in 2020 and 2024.

Trump asked about how he was doing after his gruesome and controversial injury scare against Song Yadong in Seattle, to which he replied: “I’m doing good Mr President.” When he was asked about future fights, he told the President: “I’ve got one more and I’m calling it.”

Cejudo was also gifted a commemorative coin with the President’s Seal on it, which was shown off in a video on social media by his producer Dylan Rush.

Henry Cejudo feared he would lose his eyesight after UFC Seattle controversy

During his UFC Seattle main event with Song Yadong, Cejudo appeared to be struggling in the early rounds with his rival. But the fight had to be stopped by a doctor between rounds and taken to a technical decision after multiple eye pokes, which caused him severe injuries.

After being checked over at a local hospital, Cejudo claimed Yadong's eye poke left him with diplopia, soft tissue damage, and a corneal abrasion. He was also warned by doctors that he was inches from being left blinded in one eye by the injury.

During his post-fight interview he joked with Michael Bisping that the pair were going to become ‘brothers’, playing on the former middleweight champion’s own eye sight issues. However, it is a worrying injury to deal with.

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