Sean O’Malley competes in the UFC Bantamweight Division, which currently has no champion, and O’Malley has a theory as to why Cejudo retired.
“I think I have the reason that he retired. I don’t know that for sure, but that’s just what I heard,” O’Malley said to Brett Okamoto of ESPN (via Adam Martin of BJPenn.com). “I feel like I’m a bad matchup for anyone in the division. I’m almost six-feet tall and I’m pretty skinny but I’m long. I was probably 150-something in the cage. I’m fast, I’m strong, I’m high-level everywhere. I don’t know if I’m disappointed that he retired. I don’t know if I’m on top, in my peak, I don’t know if I could retire. I almost feel like I’d rather lose than just retire then say, ‘I’m in the best in the world, I’m done.’ I don’t know, who knows. I think he’ll be back. I think he just found his first girlfriend and he’s just kind of, he doesn’t know what to do. Because if you’ve never had a girlfriend before and then you have one and you’re like 30-something, I don’t know, they like, take over.”
Cejudo hasn’t stated publicly why he retired, but there has been speculation that financial matters played a role in that retirement. The former two division champion has been staying active since retiring, appearing on an episode of AEW Dynamite while also hinting at a professional boxing debut.
