Demetrious Johnson blames himself for Henry Cejudo’s four-fight skid after UFC retirement reversal

Future UFC Hall of Famer Demetrious Johnson blames himself for Henry Cejudo’s failed second chapter after his send-off at UFC 323.

Former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo dropped the gloves after a unanimous decision loss to Payton Talbott last weekend at UFC 323. After ending his three-year retirement in 2023, Cejudo suffered four-straight defeats to end his career, including losses to Merab Dvalishvili and Aljamain Sterling.

While Cejudo is still regarded as an all-time great, many have questioned his decision to retire in 2020 and his subsequent comeback attempt at UFC 288. Cejudo’s final UFC victory came against Dominick Cruz at UFC 249.

Cejudo’s rise to UFC stardom began when he upset Demetrious Johnson to win the UFC flyweight title. Since their rematch, Cejudo and Johnson have become close friends, and Johnson blames himself for Cejudo’s late-career struggles.

Demetrious Johnson ‘guilty’ over Henry Cejudo’s failed UFC comeback

In a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Johnson took responsibility for Cejudo’s skid to end his UFC career.

“He has his final fight against Payton Talbott, and he loses there, so he goes on a four-fight losing streak before he retires from mixed martial arts,” Johnson said of Cejudo.

“I always say this: I always feel like it’s my fault that I kind of brought him back out of retirement, or I kind of gave him some words to come out of retirement because I said it’s literally the easiest money you can make.

“There’s nowhere in the world where a man who’s 5’4′ at 125-135 pounds, train for eight weeks, go out there and fight, and make $350K, six figures,” Johnson elaborated. “It’s very hard to find that. So, it’s easy money from an athlete’s perspective, but he paid the price for this, and he got banged up. He was doing a good job, but he kept on flinching and flinching and flinching, and Father Time is undefeated.” (h/t MMA Junkie)

Cejudo and Johnson could both enter the UFC Hall of Fame as soon as next year. Johnson retired following a trilogy win over Adriano Moraes in ONE Championship in 2023.