Former two division UFC world champion Henry Cejudo has been making the headlines for different reasons over recent days, but ‘The Messenger’ hasn’t just been campaigning for his octagon return.
Cejudo has made no secret of his desire to return to the UFC and challenge reigning UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
But, in his latest appearance in his podcast, “The Triple C and Schmo Show,” Cejudo took the opportunity to lift up another former UFC champion, ex-strawweight queen Zhang Weili.
Zhang arrived in the UFC in 2018 as a 16-1 prospect and swiftly rose through the 115-pound division to become the undisputed UFC women’s strawweight champion with a 42-second demolition of Jessica Andrade at UFC Fight Night 157 in August 2019.
Zhang then retained her title with a split-decision win over former champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk in an all-time great bout at UFC 248, but her title reign came to an abrupt end when she was knocked out with a head kick by Rose Namajunas at UFC 261 in April this year.
The Chinese ace, known as “Magnum,” has been working with Cejudo as she sharpens her skills ahead of her title rematch with Namajunas in the co-main event of UFC 268 on November 6.
And “Triple C” heaped praise on the former champion as he issued a warning to the rest of the women’s strawweight division that a new and improved Zhang Weili is about to be unleashed on the 115-pound class.
“When I talk Zhang Weili, she is literally a Ferrari. The only problem is, she needed those Ferrari engineers,” he said.
“She needed that right oil. She got the wrestling. Dude, if I was to tell you the stuff that she’s picked up on… This is literally Zhang Weili 2.0.”
Cejudo then delivered his warning to Zhang’s rivals at 115 pounds, as he said that he has turned the already powerful Zhang into an even more dangerous fighter than before.
“I’ve created a monster!” he posted to Instagram.
“Zhang Weili 2.0 is COMING for all of you!”