Henry Cejudo may be done with MMA, at least for now, but the competitive fire clearly hasn’t gone out.
Just weeks after announcing his retirement from mixed martial arts, the Olympic gold medalist and former two-division UFC champion is already booked for his next challenge. Promotional officials confirmed that Cejudo will headline Real American Freestyle (RAF) 6, scheduled for February 28 at Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona. An opponent for Cejudo has yet to be announced.
Also slated for the card is longtime UFC veteran Clay Guida, who will compete in the co-main event against an opponent to be named at a later date.
Cejudo recently walked away from MMA for the second time following a unanimous decision loss to Payton Talbott at UFC 323, marking his fourth straight defeat. The result closed the chapter on a difficult comeback run after his first retirement.
“The Messenger” initially stepped away from the sport in 2020 after stopping Dominick Cruz at UFC 249. When he returned three years later, the results didn’t follow. Cejudo dropped a split decision to then-bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288, followed by losses to Merab Dvalishvili, Song Yadong, and Talbott.
Before ever stepping into the Octagon, Cejudo had already cemented his legacy. At just 21 years old, he won Olympic gold in wrestling at the 2008 Beijing Games, becoming the youngest American to ever achieve the feat.
That wrestling pedigree is now bringing him back into competition. RAF 6 will mark Cejudo’s first freestyle wrestling match since April 2015, when he lost to Tony Ramos in Iowa. He enters the event with a career freestyle record of 42–11.
RAF has steadily built momentum by attracting high-profile combat sports names. Fighters like Bo Nickal and Michael Chandler have already competed under the banner, while RAF 5 on January 10 will feature a headline bout between former UFC champions Colby Covington and Luke Rockhold.
For Cejudo, this isn’t about titles or belts anymore, it’s about competition, and if his quick return is any indication, retirement hasn’t dulled his edge one bit.
