Henry Cejudo wants T.J. Dillashaw at flyweight: If Demetrious Johnson won’t fight him, I will

Henry Cejudo plans to ‘welcome’ T.J. Dillashaw to the 125-pound division.

With the recent win over Sergio Pettis at UFC 218 on Saturday night, a lot of opportunities have opened up for Henry Cejudo. While the UFC has not confirmed it yet, he will likely be slated for another shot at current flyweight champion and top pound-for-pound fighter Demetrious Johnson.

Cejudo, meanwhile, also has other plans in mind, one of which includes newly-minted bantamweight champion, T.J. Dillashaw.

“From what I’ve heard, (Johnson) doesn’t really want to fight (Dillashaw) just yet, or he wants the right money,” Cejudo said during the post-fight press conference (transcript via MMAjunkie). “And I said I’ll welcome T.J. to the weight class. If D.J. does not want to fight him, I’ll fight T.J. I know with him, he’s a former wrestler, it’s going to be a mixed fight. I like it at 125 pounds.”

Cejudo’s first fight against Mighty Mouse at UFC 197 in April of last year marked the first stoppage defeat of his career. Now that he is possibly faced with another chance at it, he is more confident as he treats that loss as a learning experience.

“I really did believe that I was going to beat up Demetrious Johnson when I fought him,” Cejudo said. “Like, deep down in my heart, in my mind, I thought I was going to beat this dude, like beat him up. And I was watching it because sometimes I’ll get these Instagram alerts, and I was watching it and I remember watching when I lost.”

“I was so sad and disappointed. I just kept looking down, like, ‘Did this just happen?’ But through that, it literally did, it made me respect him and everybody else in my weight class.”