UFC’S Cejudo struggles to hold his gold
Year after losing his Olympic gold medal, fighter loses title belt
UFC flyweight champion Henry Cejudo hasn’t had the chance to defend his title and he’s already lost his belt. Literally.
Cejudo’s luggage was lost on a flight to Moscow last week where he attended UFC Fight Night 136. UFC officials immediately took him shopping to replace the clothes, but the shiny gold belt he won by dethroning Demetrious Johnson in Los Angeles last month was also in his bag.
It’s not the first time one of the tokens of his success has faced adversity.
Cejudo’s 2008 Olympic gold medal was lost when the Santa Rosa, California, hotel he was staying at caught fire in October 2017. He was forced to jump out the window of his second-floor room, injuring his foot in the process.
“So now on top of my gold medal, now I’ve lost my belt,” Cejudo told reporters. “I don’t know what it is about gold, I just can’t keep it. But we’re gonna find it, they’re looking for the bags now.”
Cejudo’s gold medal will be replaced by the IOC and the UFC will almost certainly get him a new belt should his not be recovered.
“Let’s be honest, material comes and goes,” he said. “It’s the memories, it’s the legacy that comes with being a champion. I’m going to get a gold medal back, I’m going to get a belt back. But it’s the memories that come with that that makes it special.”
UFC Fight Night 136 was the organization’s first event in Russia. It drew 22,603 people to watch Oleksiy Oliynyk submit Mark Hunt late in the first round of a heavyweight bout.
Late replacement
Former Alabama linebacker Eryk Anders has agreed to step in on less than a week’s notice to face Thiago Santos in the light heavyweight main event of UFC Fight Night 137 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Saturday.
Jimi Manuwa, who was originally supposed to face Glover Teixeira in the main event, was forced to withdraw from his matchup against Santos because of an injury. The event airs on Fox Sports 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Anders bounced back from the first loss of his career with a last-minute knockout of Tim Williams in an Aug. 25 middleweight bout in Nebraska. He will take this fight at light heavyweight with less time to cut.
Werdum suspended
Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum has been
suspended two years by USADA for a violation of the organization’s anti-doping policy.
An out-of-competition test administered to the 41-year-old Brazilian on April 25 revealed the presence of the anabolic steroid trenbolone and its metabolite, epitrenbolone.
His suspension is retroactive to May 22, the day the result was returned and Werdum was provisionally suspended. He will be 43 when the sanction ends in 2020.