Henry Cejudo simply scored his first victory since 2020, nevertheless it wasn’t underneath blended martial arts guidelines.
The previous two-division UFC champion and Olympic gold medalist in wrestling entered the Alash Pleasure 108 cage on Could 27 in Astana, Kazakhstan, to problem former ONE Championship flyweight titleholder Kairat Akhmetov in a five-minute grappling contest.
Cejudo and Akhmetov, each very skilled in MMA, spent the primary minutes within the collar tie place. Akhmetov countered Cejudo’s first takedown transfer with a entrance lock choke try, simply defended by the wrestler. Cejudo’s well-timed inside journey takedown had Akhmetov on the bottom, with the UFC fighter rapidly transferring to facet management. Cejudo was unable to do a lot from that place earlier than Akhmetov went again to his ft.
Cejudo managed to safe one other takedown within the remaining minute however Akhmetov escaped to remain on prime place, however with just a few seconds left on the clock. In the long run, Cejudo was declared the winner through choice.
“I’ve been a giant fan of his for a minute,” Cejudo mentioned of Akhmetov after the match. “I do know he was alleged to combat Demetrious Johnson however proper now he’s a world champion and it’s an honor to be at this stage.”
Cejudo, 16-5 in MMA, misplaced his previous three in a row underneath the UFC banner in opposition to Aljamain Sterling, Merab Dvalishvili and Song Yadong. The previous champiojn, who scored his final MMA win with a knockout over Dominick Cruz in Could 2020, has flirted with the concept of fighting one final time within the sport after a watch damage suffered in opposition to Yadong ended his most up-to-date outing.
Akhmetov is 30-2 in MMA with key wins over Adriano Moraes and Geje Eustaquio underneath the ONE banner, however hasn’t competed for the Asian promotion since a choice over Reece McLaren in Could 2023, his sixth straight victory since 2018.
