Bad For The Sport?

Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images

Top Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight contender, Petr Yan, believes the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) loses some of its credibility when the promotion allows fighters like Henry Cejudo to turn down title defenses and hand-pick opponents.

Especially opponents coming off a loss.

I guess now would be a good time to have someone break the news to Yan that MMA is not really a sport, which is why you don’t see the NFL creating a “Baddest Mother Fucker” trophy for teams who aren’t good enough to reach the Super Bowl.

“I lost all respect for Cejudo. He doesn’t want to defend his belt against a real number one contender,” Yan told BJPenn.com. “He wants to fight someone with zero wins in the 135 division and on a two-fight losing streak, and far from the peak of his career. UFC shouldn’t support this behavior if they want to keep any significance to that belt. Honestly, it will be bad for the sport. He is a triple clown who is trying to turn our sport into a circus.”

Cejudo (15-2) has not competed since his capturing the vacant bantamweight title in his UFC 238 showdown against Marlon Moraes back in June. “Triple C” was recently stripped of the flyweight strap and is expected to make his bantamweight return in early 2020.

As for Yan (14-1), he was last seen standing over the stiffened carcass of Urijah Faber in the wake of his UFC 245 victory earlier this month in Las Vegas, a performance that was good enough to land “No Mercy” at No. 3 in the official rankings.

But was it enough to warrant a 135-pound title shot?