PHOENIX - With the UFC Flyweight belt draped over his shoulder, Henry Cejudo walked into the arms of his biggest fans. "I was begging to come back, I want to be with my people," Cejudo said after embracing his closest family and friends at the airport.
Cejudo is no stranger to warm airport welcomes. 10 years ago he arrived back home from Beijing with a gold medal, this time it's a belt may people thought he couldn't win. Two days before, Cejudo pulled off one of UFC's biggest upsets by dethroning previously unbeaten (in the Flyweight division) Demetrious Johnson.
"It wasn't so much winning the UFC belt, it was more beating the guy, the best fighter in human history," Cejudo said.
Some are calling the five round masterpiece the best flyweight bout in history. A split decision with two judges scoring the fight 48-47 in favor of Cejudo with a third scoring the same way with Johnson as the winner.
"I knew it was close, and I'm happy that he knew it was close," Cejudo said about his opponent who knowcked him out two years ago in the first round. "I hated feeling that Demetrious thought I was just mediocre. I hated that feeling," Cejudo said.
The victory this time around is pure sweetness for a fighter who reached the mountaintop in Beijing before switching sports and getting to the pinnacle once again. Perseverance is the message he is preaching to the kids in Phoenix who look up to their champ for advice. "When you work hard and believe in yourself, you can redo it, you can redo things in life and that's exactly what happened in my case."