Henry Cejudo sees UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje staying firm on his stance against an Ilia Topuria rematch.
Gaethje (28-5 MMA, 11-5 UFC) pulled off a stunning upset of Topuria (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) by battering him to claim the lightweight title at UFC Freedom 250 in June.
Gaethje immediately shut down the idea of running things back and plans on taking the rest of the year off. However, Jon Anik recently revealed that there have been internal talks of a potential immediate rematch now that Dana White has revealed Topuria is ready to go.
"Justin Gaethje ain't giving that opportunity," Cejudo told MMA Junkie. "Remember: Fighters have leverage. Justin Gaethje has one year to say 'yes, I want to fight' or 'no, I do not want to fight.' The
UFC don't want to do that, especially after the no mas thing. That ain't it. But also because of entertainment, I could see it happening. But also competitively and knowing Justin Gaethje, he ain't going to give him that opportunity."
Cejudo said because Topuria didn't just lose, he was battered, he should seek another big fight to earn a rematch.
"It's not just losing," Cejudo said. "It's getting your ass kicked and getting beat up. Getting beat up, it takes a minute for your brain to come back and your spirit to come back and be like, 'I think I want to do this again.' Ilia needs to fight 'Paddy the Baddy.' Put the sanitizer sh*t to bed. It's the perfect storyline. I think 'Paddy the Baddy' would be the perfect match for him to come back to. He has to. If he claims everything he is then he needs to get back in there and beat Paddy, and the winner fights Justin Gaethje."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Henry Cejudo shares 'the perfect match' for Ilia Topuria's UFC return
