Henry Cejudo simply scored his first victory since 2020, however it wasn’t beneath blended martial arts guidelines.
The previous two-division UFC champion and Olympic gold medalist in wrestling entered the Alash Delight 108 cage on Might 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 shortly shifting 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 closing minute however Akhmetov escaped to remain on high place, however with only some seconds left on the clock. In the long run, Cejudo was declared the winner by way of resolution.
“I’ve been a giant fan of his for a minute,” Cejudo mentioned of Akhmetov after the match. “I do know he was presupposed to struggle 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 beneath the UFC banner towards Aljamain Sterling, Merab Dvalishvili and Tune Yadong. The previous champiojn, who scored his final MMA win with a knockout over Dominick Cruz in Might 2020, has flirted with the thought of preventing one closing time within the sport after an eye fixed damage suffered towards Yadong ended his most up-to-date outing.
Akhmetov is 30-2 in MMA with key wins over Adriano Moraes and Geje Eustaquio beneath the ONE banner, however hasn’t competed for the Asian promotion since a call over Reece McLaren in Might 2023, his sixth straight victory since 2018.
