Henry Cejudo

Henry Carlos Cejudo (born February 9, 1987) is an American freestyle wrestler and former professional mixed martial artist. He last competed in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former UFC Flyweight Champion and Bantamweight Champion. Cejudo is the fourth UFC fighter to hold titles in two different weight classes simultaneously, and the second to defend titles in two different weight divisions. He is considered to be among the greatest combat athletes of all time due to his accomplishments in MMA and freestyle wrestling.

He currently competes in the Lightweight division of Real American Freestyle (RAF), where he debuted at RAF 06. During his wrestling career, Cejudo competed at 55 kilograms and became the youngest American Olympic gold medalist in wrestling history at the time, winning the 2008 Summer Olympics at age 21. As a senior level freestyle wrestler, he was also a 2007 Pan American Games gold medalist, as well as a multiple-time Pan American Championships gold medalist and US national champion.

Born to Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles, California, Cejudo is the second youngest of the family's seven siblings. As a result of his violent father's drug and alcohol abuse, Cejudo's family constantly moved around the Los Angeles area.

When Cejudo was four, his mother fled to New Mexico with her children before his father, who was jailed after threatening to kill his whole family and subsequently getting into an altercation in the street, was released. His father was deported when Cejudo was six years old and died when Cejudo was about 20 years old. After a couple of years in New Mexico, the family relocated to Phoenix, Arizona. In Phoenix, the family lived in Maryvale in poverty despite their mother working multiple jobs to make ends meet.

Cejudo never slept alone in his own bed until he was provided one by USA Wrestling while participating in a residency program at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado. He also started competing as an amateur boxer, and won the annual state Copper Gloves boxing tournament in 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Cejudo enrolled at Grand Canyon University in 2010 and graduated in 2015 with a degree in Theology.

Inspired by his older brother Angel Cejudo, who was an undefeated four-time AIA wrestling state champion with a record of 150 wins and zero defeats who represented the United States internationally, Henry also became a four-timer. His freshman and sophomore year titles were won in Arizona, before he moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to become a resident athlete at the United States Olympic Training Center. He won the Colorado state championships (CHSAA) as a junior and senior, and was named ASICS "National High School Wrestler of the Year" in 2006. In the same year, he was selected in USA Wrestling Magazine's "Dream Team of High School All-Americans."

In 2006, Cejudo won the Fargo National title in freestyle. Soon after his victory, he began full-time training at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. There, he prepared for the U20 World Championships; after a fifth-place finish in 2005, Cejudo was able to claim the silver medal for the United States team. He opted to pursue an international career in freestyle rather than competing in collegiate wrestling.