Henry Cejudo

At the World Championships, he was taken out in the opening round by Uzbekistan's Erkin Tadzhimetov and placed 31st.

Cejudo started off the most successful year of his freestyle career in March 2, with a Pan American title.

He failed to secure his third consecutive US National title after he was pinned by Matt Azevedo, not before defeating recent All-American Obe Blanc.

At the US Olympic Team Trials, he started off by comfortably downing two opponents to make it to the best-of-three.

Henry Cejudo (born February 9, 1987) is an American professional mixed martial artist and freestyle wrestler.

He is a former UFC Flyweight Champion and Bantamweight Champion.

He is the fourth UFC fighter to hold titles in two different weight classes simultaneously, and the second to defend titles in two different weight divisions.

He is considered to be among the greatest combat athletes of all time due to his accomplishments in MMA and freestyle wrestling, earning him the nickname "Triple C."

There, he was downed twice by the 2000 Olympic silver medalist and 1998 World Champion Sammie Henson, losing the spot.

He quickly bounced back a week later with a Pan American title.

In his last competition of the year, Cejudo competed at the Sunkist Open, where he lost in the second round.

There, he prepared for the U20 World Championships; after a fifth-place finish in 2005, Cejudo was able to claim the silver medal for the United States team.

He opted to pursue an international career in freestyle rather than competing in collegiate wrestling.

Cejudo made his senior level debut on October 23, 2005, at the Sunkist Open, at the age of 18.

He earned notable victories over NCAA champion Jason Powell and three-time All-American Tanner Gardner before finishing fifth.

He won the Colorado state championships (CHSAA) as a junior and senior, and was named ASICS "National High School Wrestler of the Year" in 2006.

In the same year, he was selected in USA Wrestling Magazine's "Dream Team of High School All-Americans."

In 2006, Cejudo won the Fargo National title in freestyle.

Soon after his victory, he began full-time training at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

On April 15, 2006, he won the US National Championship at 55 kilograms, qualifying for the US World Team Trials and becoming the first high schooler to do so since the organization (USAW) was established as the sport's governing body in 1983.

At the World Team Trials, he defeated an eventual accomplished wrestler in Franklin Gómez in the opening match of the Challenge Tournament before making it to the best-of-three finals.

As a senior level freestyle wrestler, he was also a 2007 Pan American Games gold medalist, as well as a multiple-time Pan American Championships gold medalist and US national champion.

As of February 20, 2024, he is #6 in the UFC bantamweight rankings.

Born to Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles, California, Cejudo is the second youngest of the family's seven siblings.

As a result of his violent father's drug and alcohol abuse, Cejudo's family constantly moved around the Los Angeles area.

When Cejudo was four, his mother fled to New Mexico with her children before his father, who was jailed after threatening to kill his whole family and subsequently getting into an altercation in the street, was released.

His father was deported when Cejudo was six years old and died when Cejudo was about 20 years old.

After a couple of years in New Mexico, the family relocated to Phoenix, Arizona.

In Phoenix, the family lived in Maryvale in poverty despite their mother working multiple jobs to make the ends meet.

Cejudo never slept alone in his own bed until he was provided one by USA Wrestling while participating in a residency program at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado.

On March 22, 2007, Cejudo captured a bronze medal at the World Cup.

In April 7, he claimed his second US National title while compiling wins over collegiate and international standout Nick Simmons and two-time All-American Vic Moreno.

On May 18, he earned his second Pan American title.

Cejudo then made the US World Team after two straight wins over Matt Azevedo.

Before the 2007 World Championships, he warmed up with a Pan American Games title.

During his wrestling career, Cejudo competed at 55 kilograms and became the youngest American Olympic gold medalist in wrestling history at the time, winning the 2008 Summer Olympics at age 21.

He also started competing as an amateur boxer, and won the annual state Copper Gloves boxing tournament in 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Cejudo enrolled at Grand Canyon University in 2010 and graduated in 2015 with a degree in Theology.

Inspired by his older brother Angel Cejudo, who was an undefeated four-time AIA wrestling state champion with a record of 150 wins and zero defeats who represented the United States internationally, Henry also became a four-timer.

His freshman and sophomore year titles were won in Arizona, before he moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to become a resident athlete at the United States Olympic Training Center.