Henry Cejudo

Two-division champion + Olympic gold

Henry Cejudo is one of the most decorated combat athletes in modern history. His résumé includes:

• 2008 Olympic gold medal: freestyle wrestling, 55 kg / 121 lbs. At age 21, Cejudo became the youngest American to win Olympic wrestling gold.
• UFC flyweight champion (2018-2020): defeating Demetrious Johnson by split decision at UFC 227 to end Johnson's 11-defense reign.
• UFC bantamweight champion (2019-2020): defeating Marlon Moraes by TKO in round 3 at UFC 238.

His MMA record stands at 16-5 with notable wins over Demetrious Johnson, TJ Dillashaw (the 32-second KO at UFC Brooklyn 2019), Marlon Moraes, and the long stretch of contenders. Losses include the early-career flyweight bout with Demetrious Johnson (UFC 197), Aljamain Sterling (UFC 288 split decision in his 2023 comeback bout), and Merab Dvalishvili (the 2024 bout).

The wrestling foundation

Cejudo's Olympic-gold-medal wrestling foundation is the deepest of any UFC champion. He won every major wrestling tournament — US Nationals (multiple), World Cup, and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing — before transitioning to MMA at age 26.

The wrestling translated directly: freestyle takedowns, chain wrestling, and the cardio-and-positioning work that defined his championship reigns.

The Demetrious Johnson bouts

The two bouts with Demetrious Johnson framed Cejudo's flyweight title era:

• UFC 197 (April 2016): Johnson finished Cejudo with strikes in round 1 in their first bout — the result that delayed Cejudo's championship eligibility by two years.
• UFC 227 (August 2018): Cejudo won by split decision (48-47 × 2 for Cejudo, 48-47 Johnson) — the bout that ended Johnson's record 11-defense reign.

The split-decision result was widely controversial — many MMA observers viewed Johnson as having won — but the official result ended Johnson's era and elevated Cejudo to the title.

The TJ Dillashaw KO

The January 2019 UFC Brooklyn bout against TJ Dillashaw was Cejudo's flyweight title defense and one of the most decisive title-defense finishes in UFC history. Dillashaw was the bantamweight champion moving down to flyweight to challenge Cejudo. Cejudo KO'd Dillashaw with strikes in 32 seconds of round 1 — the fastest title-defense finish in UFC history.

The result also produced the USADA discovery that Dillashaw had used EPO (erythropoietin) during the camp, resulting in a two-year suspension and the vacating of Dillashaw's bantamweight title.

The Marlon Moraes title win

The June 2019 UFC 238 bout against Marlon Moraes for the vacant bantamweight title was Cejudo's two-division-champion moment. Moraes dropped Cejudo in round 1 with a head kick, but Cejudo recovered, took Moraes down in round 2, and finished with strikes in round 3 (TKO at 4:51).

The win made Cejudo the fourth simultaneous two-division UFC champion at the time (alongside McGregor, Daniel Cormier, and Amanda Nunes).

The 2020 retirement and the 2023 return

Cejudo retired after the June 2020 win over Dominick Cruz (KO via strikes in round 2 at UFC 249) — the bout where he announced his retirement in the post-fight interview. The retirement was unusual: champion in two divisions, walking away on a winning streak, with no apparent injuries.

The May 2023 return at UFC 288 against Aljamain Sterling went to a split decision (48-47 × 2 for Sterling, 48-47 Cejudo). The result was widely viewed as a robbery for Cejudo, though Sterling's pressure-and-takedown game edged the cards.

The February 2024 loss to Merab Dvalishvili (UFC 298, unanimous decision) ended Cejudo's championship-eligibility window.

The legacy

Cejudo's case for the all-time elite is the combination of Olympic wrestling gold and two-division UFC champion — a résumé that no other UFC fighter shares. The Demetrious Johnson split-decision win, the 32-second KO of TJ Dillashaw, and the comeback finish of Marlon Moraes are three of the most decisive championship moments in modern UFC matchmaking.

The retirement-and-return narrative is structural for the legacy assessment, but the body of work during the 2018-2020 championship era is the strongest two-division case any UFC fighter has assembled outside of Conor McGregor's brief 2016 moment.