Henry Cejudo believes Islam Makhachev would have his way with UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards.
Makhachev is the reigning UFC lightweight champion, and despite only having two successful title defenses, he’s already pounding the table for a shot at 170-pound gold. Cejudo, who shares the same manager with Makhachev, believes the 155-pound ruler can make a successful move up to 170 pounds.
Makhachev himself clearly feels the same, as he reacted to Edwards’ recent successful title defense against Colby Covington at UFC 296. He said that there needs to be a new champion at welterweight and he slammed the fight between “Rocky” and “Chaos.”
Henry Cejudo On How Islam Makhachev vs. Leon Edwards Would Go
During a recent video posted on his YouTube channel, Henry Cejudo reacted to Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington, and he believes Edwards’ performance shows that Islam Makhachev would get the better of “Rocky.”
“This is where I feel like a guy like Islam is going to expose him because he does fight everybody the same,” Cejudo said. “We saw it with guys like Israel Adesanya, we saw it with guys that are just pretty much one-dimensional. The guys who are the hardest guys to fight are the guys that have other weapons other than just striking. He’s got everything to lose. He’s already talking about going up and fighting Sean Strickland. These guys are probably avoiding a guy like Islam Makhachev.”
Cejudo shared his belief that Covington used his wrestling too late against Leon Edwards. He said once “Chaos” had a sense of urgency late in the fight, he was able to take Leon down. “Triple C” believes Makhachev might be overlooked by welterweights who feel they’d have too big of a size advantage, but he thinks that would be a mistake as the Dagestan bruiser has the confidence and skills to shine at 170 pounds.