Jiri Prochazka is aware that being a UFC champion entails accepting the rigorous drug testing practices that the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has long been criticized for. The UFC light heavyweight champion has already undergone 59 drug tests in 2022. That puts Prochazka (29-3-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) as the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's most thoroughly tested athlete on the UFC roster this year. The Czech competitor acknowledged that having USADA representatives disturb him during his sleep might be inconvenient. Jiri Prochazka clarified that he realizes the tests are just a normal part of his life as a prominent UFC fighter. He asserts that it is a price he is ready to pay in light of this. 'Denisa' commented on his position as the most experienced fighter in the UFC during a UFC 282 media event. Prochazka could only chuckle, but he didn't seem concerned. “Daily,” Prochazka said. “They’re coming daily, and sometimes it’s boring. Sometimes I’m tired from that. I’m waking up at 5 a.m. and I’m thinking, ‘They will come. They will come today.’ But if it’s the price to be the champion, I will pay that.” At UFC 275 in June, the 30-year-old Czech fighter defeated Glover Teixeira (33-8 MMA, 16-6 UFC) to win the 205-pound championship. The rematch will take place on Dec. 10 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as the main event of UFC 282. Prochazka's management was concerned about USADA's numerous visits, but the light heavyweight champion insisted that even if no justification was given, it is the agency's right to do so. “We spoke about that. My management talked with USADA about why, and it’s just the law,” Prochazka said. “They can do that, so they test me. For me, I’m good with that. It doesn’t matter.” Since 2015, USADA has been in charge of the UFC's anti-doping program. As part of the scheme, operatives randomly appear to collect urine and/or blood samples from fighters at random times. Paulo Costa, a middleweight contender for the UFC, has recently expressed loudly how he feels about the testing procedure. Only a few hours before he was scheduled to weigh in for his UFC 278 matchup against Luke Rockhold, Costa claimed that the representatives had visited him. Costa received an apology from Dana White after that, but he kept criticizing the company. He said that because his existing contract was about to end, his company was irking him by utilizing USADA.

Robert Whittaker hopes that the UFC 281 main event will alter both competitors and make Whittaker's path to the title considerably simpler. The middleweight category will be highlighted in this weekend's return to Madison Square Garden as two of MMA's top strikers square off for the biggest reward. Israel Adesanya, the current UFC champion, takes on Alex Pereira to earn some revenge while making his sixth championship defense. Whittaker, who believes he is No. 1, is still widely regarded as the second-best 185-pound fighter on the earth despite Pereira's involvement in the title battle. Only outperformed by Adesanya in the division, "The Reaper" is known for being honest, and he is doing so once more when discussing his thoughts on the important forthcoming matchup. “Absolutely not,” Whittaker responded jokingly when asked on the main event if he was rooting for someone. “I hope they both hurt each other extremely. Like bad (laughs). I hope they never — I hope they fight so hard and they hurt each other so bad that they never come back the same. Robert Whittaker, who has twice lost to Israel Adesanya, is adamant that he is the world's finest middleweight despite his indomitable self-belief. “I do believe I’m the best middleweight in the world, I just get countered by ‘Izzy’ so hard (laughs). I just feel like he’s my counter. I don’t fight well against him.” The statement isn't entirely correct, since Adesanya is the top fighter in the 185-pound class, but it is undeniable that Whittaker and Adesanya have dominated the middleweight division as Whittaker has defeated nearly every opponent who isn't Adesanya and did so without difficulty. Adesanya has been a striker in the octagon who is essentially unmatched. Because of their past encounters, it is anticipated that Pereira will present one of the toughest challenges yet, and Whittaker believes the fight will come down to one very important point in particular. “There are a couple elements I see in this fight that are going to lead to this fight being why I’m watching it so closely,” Whittaker said. “They fought each other multiple times before, but they fought each other in bigger gloves. They were both landing strikes on each other, tagging each other, how does the small gloves affect that? If they can land shots like they did in kickboxing in this fight coming up with the small gloves because the smaller gloves, make the biggest difference. It impacts the entirety of the fight. How they engage, how wreckless they are moving forward, all of that. “How that changes, what is that going to do to the fight itself? And next, who has evolved more? Who in their time away from each other since their last bout has evolved enough?”

Dustin Poirier has spent his career chasing world titles, so he's never been particularly focused on a single opponent, though there is at least one fight he'd like to have that appears unlikely to happen. After his fight against Nate Diaz was called off in 2018, Poirier pursued it again. Despite his best efforts, the fight never materialized. Diaz is now set to leave the UFC in free agency after completing his last contract, casting doubt on his ability to compete in the promotion again, let alone face Poirier across the cage. While it isn't something that consumes him, Poirier admits he wishes the Diaz fight had occurred before his exit from the UFC. “I’ve always wanted to fight Nate,” Poirier said during UFC 280 media day. “We tried to make it happen a few times. It always fell apart. It sucks that he’s gone now, and I won’t get that chance to fight him. But it is what it is, the sport moves on.” While Diaz may be the one who got away, Poirier, despite two wins over the former two-division UFC champion, rarely escapes questions about potentially facing off against Conor McGregor again. McGregor has recently gained weight while filming his role in the upcoming Road House reboot. There have been no indications of when he might compete again. McGregor has also been removed from the UFC's anti-doping program, which means he must undergo six months of drug testing before booking a fight. Having said that, Poirier doesn't appear to be interested in running it back with McGregor. He's already been there and done that, and his goals in the sport are different than chasing another fight with the Irish superstar. "I'm not sure," Poirier said when asked if he would fight McGregor again. "In this sport, you never know. I'm not sure if he'll return or what weight class he'll compete in. Never say never, but it doesn't appear to be in the near future. We'll see what happens. I had three fights with him. I'm looking for the

Dominick Reyes feels like a new man. Before his return to the octagon, the former UFC championship challenger feels revitalized and significantly improved. On the preliminary card of Saturday's UFC 281, Reyes (12-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) battles Ryan Spann (20-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC). Reyes also drastically altered his fighting career in advance of his return. Intending to work with former UFC champion Glover Teixeira, the 32-year-old shifted training facilities and relocated from California to Connecticut. Reyes believes the tweak has significantly affected his performance, which will be evident on Saturday. “Skill-wise, I’m Dom 2.0,” Reyes told reporters at the UFC 281 media day. “My defense is heavily upgraded, my offense is even better than before. Yeah, I think my timing and my speed it’s faster than it’s ever been, but my defense is heavily upgraded.” Reyes heads to UFC 281 on an unbeaten run of three fights, the only defeats in his MMA professional career. Reyes has lost three straight fights to Jiri Prochazka, the reigning champion, and past champions Jon Jones and Jan Blachowicz. Reyes thinks it was crucial to switch up his training partners to Teixeira and Alex Pereira, who will face middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in the UFC 281 main event. “It was really good being out of my comfort zone,” Reyes said. “I never trained out of California, and I went out to Connecticut and trained with those guys. I was the new guy, I took a step back, you know. Alex is fighting for the title. It’s Glover’s gym, you know. It was kind of cool being a student again and yeah, man, I’m ready to go.” He added: “Absolutely (it added to my game), my defense is crazy now. You guys are going to see. When Alex and Glover and everybody is like, ‘Bro, it’s really having a hard time getting close to you and touching you.’ That says a lot. I’m very confident and happy.” Ryan Spann is ranked No. 12 in the UFC's light heavyweight class, five positions behind Dominick Reyes, who is presently ranked No. 7. Spann just defeated Ion Cutelaba at UFC Vegas 54 by submission after applying a guillotine choke in the opening frame. After participating in Dana White's Contender Series 10 and submitting Emiliano Sordi with a guillotine choke, "Superman" was awarded a contract with the UFC. He had previously served in the contender series once before. At UFC Fight Night 137, he faced Luis Henrique and won by unanimous decision. This was his UFC debut. Ryan Spann has a 6-2 UFC record and a 20-7 record overall in mixed martial arts.

Justin Gaethje once stated that his goal in the octagon is to "create car crashes." But, apparently, he was involved in the worst kind of crash just days before his lightweight title fight against Charles Oliveira. During the UFC's New York Media Day on Thursday, the former interim lightweight champion revealed that he was in a bad bicycle accident just a few weeks before his fight with Oliveira at UFC 274. “Life’s crazy, man...nobody knows what we go through,” Gaethje told reporters. “My dumbass, 18 days before I fought Charles, I was riding my bicycle to the gas station to get some nicotine patches, and I had a vicious crash on my bike. Smoked my head off the road, road rash all down my back, and then go in there and took that damage that I took in that fight. That’s why I’m taking so much time off. “It’s just crazy what we go through. Each and every one of us has different circumstances. That was such a hurdle in my last [fight]. As soon as it happened I had to go home and act like it didn’t happen, act like my vision didn’t go 100 percent f***** up for two seconds. And that’s what we’ve been doing since we were kids. You put that doubt aside. And as soon as it happened, it was like, ‘OK, what do I do next? How do I continue to improve and continue to be ready for this fight?” When asked to elaborate on the crash, Gaethje stated that it was simply a freak accident. While some may have thought it was a bad idea to fight after suffering such injuries, he said that was never an option. “I wasn’t doing anything stupid,” he said. “My pedal snapped off, when I was riding. It was just crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy. Stupid is what it was. I was 12 weeks into a camp. All I know is to compete, you know? I don’t let myself feel anything. I try to take away the emotions so I’m constantly either running from it, or I feel like I can control it. But in that instance I was like, ‘Oh, I f***** up. This is not good.’ But I didn’t feel compromised externally. Not even internally, because at that moment I was ready for war. “I had a crazy rug burn. I was lubing myself up all day, every day, trying to get it to go away, and it went away really, really well. But it was f****** stupid is what it was, at the end of the day. But I had put so much work in, there was no chance I wasn’t — I’ve never backed out of a fight. I didn’t feel I needed to then, I still don’t think I should have, and I’m glad I didn’t. That was a great fight. It was very emotional because I was at home. I think that’s the mistake I made, I let the moment get to me, and that’s the lesson you learn.” Gaethje ultimately faced Oliveira at UFC 274, but things did not go his way. Though he dropped the Brazilian early in the fight, “Do Bronx” returned the favor shortly afterward and then submitted him in the first round. Gaethje wants to make it clear that he’s not putting the loss on his bike crash, because come fight night, he felt all the way ready to go. “That’s why I don’t even want to talk about it, because I don’t f****** know, and I don’t want it to sound anything like that,” he said. “That was just something that happened and I’m a dumbass. That is what it is. ... “I feel like I’ve always been 100 percent, because I don’t allow those things to deter my actions. At the end of the day, when I step in there, there’s only five things that are going to affect the outcome, and all of it has to do with my choices, actions, effort, and those things don’t matter anymore. To make it to the fight, you’ve just got to be careful, and it sounds dumb because we’re getting ready to do something really dangerous.”

After nearly 20 years of competitive fighting, the former UFC lightweight champion and featherweight championship contender will be walking to the octagon for the final time. On the main card of UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden Arena this Saturday, Edgar (24-10-1 MMA, 18-10-1 UFC) will make his final stand. He engages in a bantamweight match against Chris Gutierrez since being brutally defeated by Marlon "Chito" Vera at the same location the previous year. Many people thought he should put his gloves up because it was his fifth defeat in his previous seven and his fourth time being stopped. After a year of inactivity, Edgar chose to retire from boxing after one final main card match at the storied New York venue, despite initially seeming eager to continue. Edgar claims he is finished with MMA and most likely all combat sports. He does, however, leave the door open for a significant opportunity in the world of boxing. “This is my last UFC fight, MMA fight for sure,” Edgar told at the UFC 281 media day on Wednesday. “I’m most likely, 100 percent, it’s my last fight. But if there’s some boxing, maybe (Manny) Pacquiao wants to do an exhibition – I know he’s doing exhibitions now. I can be open to something crazy like that, but it would really, really have to be a good one.” The 41-year-old fighter has accomplished a lot during his MMA career. Later in his tenure, he moved down to bantamweight and then featherweight. He was one of the strongest title contenders in both divisions. But his best work was done when he defeated B.J. Penn to win the UFC lightweight title and successfully defended it three times in the early 2010s. The moment when Edgar defeated Penn to win the title at UFC 118 in 2010 is still his favorite one. “If I had to pick one, it’s winning the title against B.J. Penn. I’ve been in athletics since I was 10 years old, always trying to be the best at that and I don’t think I ever accomplished it until winning the title. That always stands out to me.” Being the final opponent of former UFC lightweight champion Edgar will provide Gutierrez with a significant opportunity and additional attention, but the 31-year-old claimed that his seven-fight unbeaten streak is what brought him to this point. Gutierrez recently defeated Danaa Batgerel with a bonus-winning spinning back fist TKO. “No, not really,” Gutierrez said. “I earned my spot here. I came off a really big win back in March, and I stayed in the gym, stayed focused, and I kept my head down and kept working. And I believe life comes full circle, so I earned my shot and when the opportunity came knocking, I was ready.” Almost every fighter on the card has paid respect to Edgar, whose remarkable career saw him narrowly miss becoming a two-weight world champion, at some point throughout fight week. During an emotional retirement run, Edgar's fights with Grey Maynard and victories over BJ Penn have been brought to mind. However, Gutierrez is determined not to let the situation affect him. “My job is to go in there and win,” Gutierrez explained. “It’s not bittersweet. He’s had his run. He’s done amazing things for the sport. No, it’s not bittersweet at all - Frankie is a legend in the sport. He’s done amazing things. It’s still Frankie at the end of the day. I’m not going to take anything away from the guy. He’s still a dangerous fighter, and that’s why I’m treating this fight like every other fight.”

Still a couple of months away from his fourth fight against Brandon Moreno, the UFC flyweight champion sounds like he already has big plans for the future. Although he already has an opponent to worry about on January 21st, at UFC 283, Deiveson Figueiredo hopes that a win could allow him to move up to bantamweight for a super fight. In a conversation with Ag Fight, Figueiredo explained his hopes for the future. Should he soundly defeat Moreno once again, the Brazilian feels that victory could warrant him an immediate title shot against whoever holds the belt at bantamweight. “I want to show the world I own this weight class. After this next fight, I want to test myself at bantamweight. That’s my next step after this fight. I want to try a title fight at bantamweight. A win will qualify me for it even it more. I hope the promotion abides.” In his last outing, Figueiredo (21-2-1) defeated Moreno via submission when they met for the third time back in January of this year. Before that, the 34-year-old lost a unanimous decision to the ‘Babyface Assassin’ in July 2021 and fought him to a majority draw in their first match, in December 2020. Figueiredo is expected to face Moreno at UFC 283’s main event, making it the first time two fighters will meet for the fourth time in the Octagon. The January 21 card is scheduled in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Israel Adesanya is holding his cards close to the chest for his third fight with Alex Pereira. The challenger currently holds a 2-0 series advantage over Adesanya having beaten the UFC middleweight champion twice in kickboxing. Their first bout was a closely contested affair that Pereira won by split decision and their second bout ended with an incredible knockout win for Pereira that has been replayed countless times ahead of their UFC 281 main event clash in New York. While Adesanya is strictly business heading into his next title defense, he’s aware that there are narrative stakes on the line this Saturday. “It is [business], but it’s personal,” Adesanya said on The MMA Hour. “This is about me and my legacy. This is about rewriting history. Even though it is history and I never chased this, this is about me rewriting a new path of history and just showing people what I can really do because, again, y’all must’ve forgot. They forget, they always forget. It’s because of this Tik Tok era, the attention span is so quick, they move on so fast. “So this is personal. For me, I’ve said less, he can do all the tennis ball videos and f****** hoverboard things he wants, but for me I’m just like, ‘Cool. You do you.’ He has bragging rights, so let him do that, but when it’s time I know something he doesn’t. I can’t tell you.” Pereira earns his UFC title shot in just his eighth pro MMA bout and his fourth for the promotion, but has a wealth of kickboxing experience including championship wins in two divisions for Glory Kickboxing. He is 3-0 in the UFC and was chosen to be Adesanya’s next challenger after first-round knockout of Sean Strickland this past July. The Brazilian striker has been on the fast track to a fight with Adesanya since making his UFC debut in November 2021 and Adesanya thinks he deserves some credit for removing all the other contenders from Pereira’s title path. Adesanya has yet to lose in the UFC when competing at 185 pounds and has successfully defended the undisputed title five consecutive times. As for what went wrong in the second fight, in which Adesanya appeared to be leading the dance before a left hand from “Poatan” turned his lights off, Adesanya believes that he went away from what was working and it cost him. Whatever secret strategy Adesanya is planning to make sure that his third fight with Pereira ends differently, he won’t reveal it. “I’m excited for this one for different reasons,” Adesanya said. “I know something you don’t. [About me], f*** him.”

A defending champion being viewed as the underdog before a title bout is still rather uncommon, but Carla Esparza is in that position once more. The 35-year-old veteran takes on Zhang Weili in the UFC 281 co-main event and faces overwhelming odds in her first fight since winning the strawweight title in May. Zhang is ranked as a 4-to-1 underdog in sportsbooks, and many people think it's nearly a given that she will win the 115-pound championship again after having previously held it from 2019 to 2021. Esparza frequently appears to be fighting against the idea that she is merely keeping the throne warm for better competitors coming for her crown, despite holding two distinct UFC titles and continuously standing around the top of the strawweight rankings for the better part of a decade. “It is funny,” Esparza told MMA Fighting. “Before, I would say early in my career it would kind of bum me out like ‘hey, I’m a good fighter!’ But now it just makes me smile and laugh. Like I know that I have a little secret but people [say] this is going to happen or that is going to happen and I’m just like OK but deep down I have my secret like you’ll see. “But I don’t need to talk about it. That’s been the style of my coach and my team since I’ve been there. Do your talking in the cage. I don’t need to tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to show you.” Without a doubt, Zhang has excelled in the UFC save her two defeats to Rose Namajunas, which remain the only setbacks on her record since entering the organization. Zhang defeated Jessica Andrade by knockout to win the UFC championship, and she has two victories against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who defeated Esparza in 2014 after she first won the belt. With true one-punch knockout power and the kind of toughness that allowed her to battle Jedrzejczyk for five rounds in their first meeting back in 2020, Zhang may be the strongest fighter in the entire division. Esparza in no way minimizes Zhang's accomplishments, much less what the former champion is capable of doing inside the ring. She won't, however, simply give up and pretend she never was because nobody was counting on her to triumph. Esparza's persistent wrestling skills give her the capacity to bring the fight to the ground or at least pose a takedown threat, which is a huge counterbalance against Zhang's enormous strength. Before the battle on Saturday, Esparza is not going to reveal her strategy, but she is aware that she always has a weapon in her back pocket for any situation. “I don’t think in my career there’s been anybody that I can recall or hardly anybody I haven’t been able to take down,” Esparza said. “Even in my losses, I’ve had some takedowns. I feel confident in my wrestling. Esparza doesn't quite care how she prevails at UFC 281 as long as the belt remains on her waist when she leaves Madison Square Garden, whether it be by knockout, submission, or decision. Esparza agrees that success is always the most important factor, although proving her doubters wrong will be a nice side effect. “I’m a betting underdog usually and my friends and family have thanked me because I’ve won them a lot of money in the past. It is what it is. I definitely don’t mind being the underdog.”

Joanna Jędrzejczyk was a few months into retirement before she got the itch to fight again. Immediately after her second-round KO loss to Zhang Weili at UFC 275 this past June, Jędrzejczyk left her gloves in the Octagon and told UFC color commentator Daniel Cormier that she would join his ‘league’ and retire. For the next phase of her career, Jędrzejczyk shifted focus to being an ambassador for the promotion and getting into managing up-and-coming fighters. And though content with that phase, the former UFC strawweight champion recently admitted she has thought about fighting again. One of the most recent instances came a few weeks ago, according to Jędrzejczyk. ‘JJ’ told Adam Catterall of BT Sport that she spoke to her team and was this close to calling the UFC brass about a return to competition. “It’s still hard,” said Jędrzejczyk. “It was a spontaneous decision, but during fight week I felt that if something [happened], I will retire and it happened. The craziest thing about my retirement is that my last camp was the best camp in my fighting career. I felt so good. I was probably—not one of the best, but I was in the best shape ever. Weili Zhang caught me and I went down. And yeah. It just happened. “But two weeks ago, I went crazy, man,” continued Jędrzejczyk. “I was calling my management. I was about to call [UFC president] Dana [White] and [UFC Chief Business Officer] Hunter [Campbell] to bring me back. Actually, I had this conversation with my coach, Mike Brown, and Dan Lambert, the owner of ATT. But yeah, it’s hard to like sit, think, like you’ve done so much, your legacy is so big. But I’ve been doing this for the last 19 years of my life, so it’s really hard.” It appears as though a quick return wouldn’t be an option, as UFC Roster Watch on Twitter confirmed Jędrzejczyk was officially removed from the roster, so likely would not be part of the USADA testing pool either.

After being released on parole ahead of his trial on several charges, including intentional attempted murder, Cain Velasquez will return home for the first time in eight months. The former UFC heavyweight champion has spent the last two days in a courtroom in Santa Clara County, California, for a pre-trial hearing. During this hearing, witnesses were called, and Mark Geragos, the defendant's attorney, and Aaron French, the prosecution, exchanged blows. Additionally, two other motions were heard by the presiding judge, Arthur Bocanegra. After engaging in a high-speed chase pursuit on February 28 and firing several rounds from a.40-caliber handgun at a car that included Harry Goularte, who is suspected of allegedly physically molesting Velasquez's son at a daycare run by his mother Patricia Goularte. Bocanegra insisted that Velasquez should still be charged with purposefully attempted murder. The confrontation resulted in Goularte's stepfather Paul Bender being shot, however, he only sustained non-life critical wounds. In spite of this, Bocanegra granted Geragos' second request for Velasquez to be given bail before his trial; the next court date is November 21 at 9 a.m. PT. “Mr. Velasquez, I would not release you if I was not convinced that finally a release at this time, eight months later, that you would be a danger to Harry Goularte, primarily, Patricia Goularte or Paul Bender or the public,” Judge Bocanegra said “But if you are as devoted as a husband and father, I have to believe and I’m confident he will not jeopardize anything that would take away from your son, your daughter, or your family. I hope you don’t prove me wrong. For the first time during the two-day pre-trial, Velasquez spoke: “I won’t, your honor.” Velasquez will be required to post a $1 million cash bond as well as submit to house confinement with GPS tracking, which prevents him from leaving his primary residence unless the court grants him permission to do so. Velasquez will also require therapy for the parents of children who have experienced sexual assault, as well as outpatient treatment for traumatic brain injury and CTE at Windmills Wellness Ranch. He won't be allowed to keep any weapons in his home, and a search and seizure will be conducted there. A protective order requiring him to keep at least 300 yards away from Goularte, his mother Patricia, and his stepfather Paul Bender must also be followed.

Currently, the UFC bantamweight roster's two greatest draws are arguably Sean O'Malley and Marlon Vera. Due to their past interactions, a conflict between the two also makes it plausible. O'Malley lost to Vera in 2020, the only defeat of his professional career, but he still doesn't take it seriously now. Although "Sugar" has requested an interim fight with Vera, he is transparent about the conditions. The world-renowned bantamweight is unwilling to take on "Chito" if he is not granted a portion of the PVV buys. According to O'Malley's YouTube channel: "Me vs. ‘Chito’ for an interim belt, people would take that. But also, me vs. ‘Chito’, interim title, main event, PPV, does however many buys, and me and ‘Chito’ technically don’t get PPV buys, I’d rather not do that. I’d rather say, ‘No, I’ll just wait.’ Again, I’ve got to talk to the UFC. We’ll see.” While defending champions frequently receive a portion of UFC PPV revenue, there are no hard and fast rules in place for this. Even though neither Anderson Silva nor Nick Diaz was the reigning champion for their 2015 fight at UFC 183, both men received PPV shares. There much going around since the controversial loss of Petr Yan to Sean O’Malley. Suga currently ranks #1 in the bantamweight division which has given him such power to select an opponent for himself. On one side O’Malley wishes for an interim title battle with his bitter rival Marlon Vera since the reigning champion has expressed his desire to return to the octagon by June 2023. This situation has also given rise to the possibility of the return of former champion Henry Cejudo. Cejudo has been seen on several occasions taking shots at the division's top contenders. Cejudo launched into a Twitter tirade in which he disparaged O'Malley's contentious victory over Petr Yan through the split decision. He continued by asserting that, despite being hurt, he was still capable of defeating Vera and O'Malley. After "Triple C" allegedly asserted that he could easily defeat "Chito" and Sean O'Malley, Marlon Vera retaliated against Henry Cejudo right away. Recently, "Sugar" demanded that if Aljamain Sterling wants to take a break from fighting, Vera should face him for the interim title. 'Chito' did not attempt to downplay anything in his answer to Cejudo: "Henry go suck a d**k you fat little s**t" After UFC 280, UFC President Dana White immediately added Henry Cejudo's name to the list of contenders for the bantamweight championship. While Aljamain Sterling and "Triple C" have been mentioned as potential opponents for a UFC 284 title fight, "Funk Master" recently shot down the rumors and said he wouldn't be making a comeback until mid-2023. Then Cejudo changed his attention and demanded a bout for the interim title against O'Malley, which was also declined. As "Sugar" rallies for an interim match against Marlon Vera, "Triple C's" appears to be attempting to reenter the fray.