Henry Cejudo‘s disapproval of the UFC pound-for-pound rankings springs from Dustin Poirier occupying a spot above some of the UFC champions. The former interim lightweight champion is currently ranked No.8 on the list.
While Poirier has always remained a threatening force, having held his own against the absolute best in the division, he has never laid his hands on undisputed UFC gold. The American became the interim lightweight champion after he defeated Max Holloway in a thrilling fight at UFC 236 by unanimous decision.
Henry Cejudo, a former two-division champion in the UFC, called attention to the fact that the current UFC flyweight and light heavyweight champion occupy spots lower than Dustin Poirier. While Deiveson Figueiredo fills in the spot at No.9, Jiri Prochazka is ranked next after the Brazilian.
Speaking about this on his YouTube channel, Cejudo stated that fight fans are responsible for Poirier being ranked on the pound-for-pound list despite not becoming an undisputed champion:
“I don’t know why Poirier is pound-for-pound. I really don’t. If I was a champion and I had a belt… With all due respect to Poirier, there’s no way you can put guys that have been knocked out and submitted and all that on the pound-for-pound list. But anyways, that’s you guys. That’s you fans.”
Dustin Poirier is scheduled to fight Michael Chandler next at UFC 281 on November 12, 2022, at Madison Square Garden in New York city.
Henry Cejudo lays out his prediction for the upcoming fight between Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler
Although Dustin Poirier hinted that he’ll most likely move to the welterweight division after losing his second opportunity for the lightweight belt against Charles Oliveira at UFC 269, he has his next assignment booked at 155 lbs. against Michael Chandler.
The division currently has no champion, even though the MMA community hails Oliveira as the uncrowned champion. The Brazilian will travel across the globe in pursuit of recapturing his throne when he faces Islam Makhachev in the main event of UFC 280. The future of the division beyond that is still uncertain.
Henry Cejudo previewed the fight between Poirier and Chandler on his YouTube channel and gave the edge to ‘The Diamond’:
“I’m leaning towards Poirier. Just because he’s been there, has got crisper hands, in his defense he’s good, he kicks and he’s a lot more composing. If Michael Chandler can gameplan with the base of wrestling that he has and if he can grab a hold of Poirier and top ride him like Khabib did, then I think that’s the only way how Chandler wins. I’m going Poirier if I had to put my money.”
Watch Henry Cejudo discuss the Poirier vs. Chandler fight below:
