Henry “Triple C” Cejudo will finally come out of retirement this weekend at UFC 288. He will challenge Aljamain Sterling for the bantamweight title, a title that he relinquished after beating Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 in 2020. Hence, he will certainly be motivated to regain the strap from Sterling on May 6, after being retired for about 3 years.
At the time of his initial retirement, Henry was 33 years of age and was in the prime of his life. However, he wanted to start a family and walked away at the height of his powers. Cejudo told Joe Rogan during his post-fight interview that he wanted to retire as he wanted to put his focus on his personal life. He got married to a Brazilian woman, Ana Karolina. While they got engaged in June 2021, they tied the knot in September that year.
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The couple is also blessed with a daughter, America Maria Cejudo, who was born on November 11, 2021. Ana and Henry announced on April 17, 2023, that they were expecting a second child. While they did not reveal the gender of the baby, both Cejudo and Ana seem happy to be expanding their family. However, it was not a smooth journey for the couple.
Ana Karolina reveals how Henry Cejudo felt breaking his retirement
Whenever an elite athlete retires, a major part of their daily routine goes away. There have been many instances where athletes become miserable due to their lack of activity. As a result, they become irritable and it affects their personal life. It looks like Cejudo was not the same and in a recent video on Henry Cejudo’s personal YouTube channel, his wife Ana Karolina revealed Cejudo was unsure about leaving his family for the fight camp.
During a Q&A session, Karolina was asked about Henry after his decision to come out of retirement. She added, “A lot (different). Everything is different (since Henry came out of retirement), right?” She further elaborated, “Now it’s good. Cause now you started feeling good with the training and feel strong. But at the beginning, after three years retired, Jesus. You were like another person. All mad, all yeah, all out. At the beginning, it was really hard.”
Karolina further explained that Cejudo went through a difficult period of readjusting to training full-time. As fans know, Cejudo has been focused on coaching as of late. However, once he started to train himself, the toll of it was hard on his body. On top of that, Cejudo was also homesick and had second thoughts about leaving his family.
At that point, the 36-year-old also jumped in and revealed that Ana witnessed his competitive side for the first time. While Cejudo was able to just concentrate on his training and recovery before he was married, now he wants to spend time with his wife and daughter as well. Hence, he was also apprehensive about going through a two-month fight camp and not being present for his family. However, Henry pushed through the phase and prepared himself for the bout.
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Do you think the 3 years of inactivity will hurt Henry Cejudo against Aljamain Sterling? Let us know in the comments down below.
