Henry Cejudo responds to “dirty q-tip” Sean O’Malley’s retirement theory

Former UFC bantamweight Henry Cejudo has responded to a recent comment from red-hot bantamweight prospect Sean O’Malley.

After defending the UFC bantamweight title with a second-round TKO of Dominick Cruz at UFC 249, Cejudo shocked the MMA world by announcing his retirement from MMA. He subsequently vacated the bantamweight title.

Speaking to ESPN following his knockout win over Eddie Wineland at UFC 250 on Saturday, O’Malley took a guess as to why Cejudo retired.

Video: Sean O’Malley (@SugaSeanMMA) talks about why he never looks too overjoyed with wins, what he’d like in his next contract negotiation, and why he thinks Henry Cejudo really retired … https://t.co/eLglEQD3Jx

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) June 7, 2020

“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 of Cejudo.

“I feel like I’m a bad matchup for anyone in the division,” O’Malley added. “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.”

Speaking on Twitter on Sunday, Cejudo fired back at O’Malley.

An Olympic Gold medal, 2 division world champion in the UFC (defended both belts) and let’s not forget my first girlfriend ever @amandadallagoc 😉 That’s one hell of a career if you ask me you dirty q-tip. @sugaseanmma 💋 ❤️ #Thelegendsoflegends pic.twitter.com/INKRdhZRXc

— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) June 8, 2020

“An Olympic Gold medal, 2 division world champion in the UFC (defended both belts) and let’s not forget my first girlfriend ever @amandadallagoc 😉 That’s one hell of a career if you ask me you dirty q-tip. @sugaseanmma”

What do you think of this back-and-forth between Henry Cejudo and Sean O’Malley?