JRE MMA Show #97 with Henry Cejudo

Joe Rogan (0:01)

Henry Cejudo, how are you, sir?

Henry Cejudo (0:04)

I'm doing good, Joe.

Joe Rogan (0:05)

Good to see you, man. What does it feel like? What does it feel like having stepped back, you step away, you get to look at it from a fresh perspective?

What does this feel like?

Henry Cejudo (0:16)

It feels good, man. It feels, I think the biggest ing with me, Joe, is there's satisfaction in my life. You know what I'm saying? I've done so much in the sport, and I can compare myself a little bit to Daniel. You know, if Daniel would have beat Stipe Miocik, and he would have retired on top, now he could almost say retired at the two division world champ.

And I don't feel like I have that chip on my shoulder. You know, as a wrestler, I retired from the Olympics at a very young age. You know, decided to come back three years later, but you know what I mean? It was already done, you know what I mean? I retired at the age of 21

And then now at the age of 33, I'm truly calling it quits unless there's, there's a couple fights that if I do come back.

Joe Rogan (0:58)

I like that word unless I like that word.

Henry Cejudo (1:01)

Yeah, and as you know, and a little bit it's, before it was about the money a little bit with the UFC. And obviously, you know, everybody does have a price.

But I think there's a fight that I would really like in the UFC, and that would be against Alexander Volkonovsky.

Yeah, if they're-

Joe Rogan (1:19)

45

Henry Cejudo (1:20)

At 45, if they're to give me an opportunity to go up and obviously be compensated, then that would be a fight that would really, that would really wake me up in the morning. Be like, hey man, this is a challenge. This is a whole new mountain.

Joe Rogan (1:32)

A chance to be a three division world champion.

Henry Cejudo (1:35)

A chance to be a three division world champion. As you know, a lot of people have counted me out against Demetrius, against TJ, against Marlon. Maybe it was you too, Joe. No, no, no, no. And I think that's what I love about it.

Joe Rogan (1:47)

You can't find any evidence of me counting you out, sir.

Henry Cejudo (1:51)

So, I love that. I love challenges. Since I was a kid, I knew I was different, I knew I was special.

And these are the things.

Joe Rogan (1:59)

What is it that you knew? Like, what separates you?

Henry Cejudo (2:03)

Oh my God, I think it's a couple of things. If I was to explain it to you, like what's made me successful. And I've seen it. Being at the Olympic Training Center as a high school kid and living out there for four years. And that's actually where I met Daniel. And I was a 16 year old kid when I first met these guys. And I was able to analyze a lot of the greats, like Stephen Abbott, Daniel Cormier, a lot of the Olympic team.

And what I've learned now, at the age of 33, I learned that there's been two things that have separated me from the rest of the pack. It's two things, what I call heart and ability. And I was actually able to tell this story to Chotri, the founder and CEO of One FC.

And so it's two things. I call it heart and ability. What is your heart? Your heart is your passion, your will, your desire, your determination. Your heart is something that you're willing to suffer for in order to obtain.

Now, the next one is ability.

Ability is a gift that you have since it's a coordination. It's something that you've repped over time where you become a master at it. And what happens a lot of time, I always tell people, it's good to question one or the other. It's good to question the mind. I'm sorry, the heart or the ability. Because to be the 1% of the 1%ers, both these things have to match. What happens is a lot of people have heart, but their ability is way down here.

Their ability doesn't match their heart or their ability is up here. And they're just a little lazy and can't really put the... Because there is a separation between mind and body. And your job is to connect them both. And I'm gonna use an example with Marlon Marais. You saw me getting my ass kicked. You saw me getting leg kicked from the first so I went to the second round. But I knew that I had to connect and make that transition. That was a combination of combine the heart and the ability.