Det är mer än bara flugviktstiteln som står på spel när Henry Cejudo möter TJ Dillashaw i Brooklyn natten till söndag. Matchen blir Cejudos första titelförsvar efter att han erövrade bältet från Demetrious Johnson i augusti förra året. Många tror att flugviktsdivisionen är i fara och att en förlust mot bantamviktsmästaren TJ Dillashaw mycket väl kan innebära att divisionen läggs ned. Detta betyder förstås ytterligare press på Cejudo, men flugviktsmästaren säger sig ha stort stöd bakom sig. Detta hade han att säga på presskonferensen inför helgens gala:
Everybody (is rooting for me). My worst enemies. Even Joe Benavidez is cheering for me. It’s at that point. This was his main training partner. He’s shaking my hand like, ‘Hey, I’m rooting for you, man.’ Like damn, this is a guy that I had bad blood with. This is personal. This dude is a guy that was trying to start the union, start the union with the UFC [fighters] to getting paid a shitload of money to get rid of a division. Siccing him down to dethrone the reigning champ. T.J., I’m not doing this just for me, man. I’m doing it for everybody. I’m doing it for all the 125-pounders. And that’s exactly who he is. You have friends like Joe Benavidez. You have guys like ‘Shorty’ Torres. These are all flyweights, bro. Where’s your respect, man?
Dillashaw, som har siktet inställt på att bli dubbelmästare, verkar dock inte bry sig nämnvärt.
That’s your problem, I’m doing this for myself. This is a selfish sport. I’m going out there and winning for myself. I’m gonna be the greatest. It’s about myself, man. It’s about my legacy. It’s about feeding my family, feeding my son down there and doing what’s best for myself and doing what’s best for my legacy and being the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. I’m chasing a second belt, I’m chasing the spot. I’ll do whatever.
Cejudo vill visa att den nedläggningshotade flugviktsdivisionen håller måttet och hoppas att en seger mot Dillashaw innebär att han räddar den kvar.
This is much bigger than me, this is for the guys, this for the all the flyweights that are not big enough to make 135 pounds. I’m fighting for those guys. I’m fighting for their family. I have flyweights that actually live with me. Every time I wake up in the morning, I start to think about them. Like damn, these guys have helped me become the best in the world and I want to kind of return the favor for them.
