Henry Cejudo slams Daniel Cormier for comparing his Olympic Gold medal against Tom Aspinall’s interim heavyweight title: “Interim belts mean nothing”

Henry Cejudo was not happy that Daniel Cormier came to the defense of Tom Aspinall following his recent criticism.

It was just last Saturday, November 11th, at UFC 295, where Tom Aspinall (14-3 MMA) knocked out Sergei Pavlovich in the very first round to claim the promotion’s interim heavyweight title (see that here).

Aspinall, who had suffered a near career ending knee injury in July of 2022, was visibly emotional after the triumph; an action which former ‘champ champ‘ Henry Cejudo took exception to.

“Watching Tom Aspinall win the interim world title, he’s already celebrating. It’s an interim, Tom! Save those tears for when you actually win the real belt. Sometimes, when I see people like that, they just get too emotional after an interim belt. Yeah, you got a trophy, but they might as well dip that thing in either silver or bronze because it’s not the real thing.”

Henry Cejudo continued:

“As a competitor, I start to think about their mentalities. How is it or what is it that makes them — has he thought that he’s reached the pinnacle of the world? I’m not picking on you, Tom. I’m just saying to you, save those tears for when you actually own the undisputed title.”

Cejudo’s comments about Tom Aspinall were not well received by fellow former ‘champ champ’ Daniel Cormier, as ‘DC’ shared the following rebuttal on ‘X‘.

Henry was 1000 percent wrong Tom Aspinall was groomed for that moment! Today I talk this, also Tom said that Jones should relinquish title, how can he make this happen ? I have a few ideas for him. Also is Dricus tougher than Khamzat? Sean Strickland thinks so! Live at 11 am… pic.twitter.com/ZJnzxY2X3z

— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) November 18, 2023

“Henry Cejudo. Man, I like the guy. I do. But this dude has never been more wrong. Henry said, ‘Tom Aspinall shouldn’t have been as emotional to become the champion. It’s not the real belt’.  It’s not fair. Henry Cejudo became the UFC champion because he’s a tremendous athlete and he is just a winner. Just a winner. But Henry Cejudo was not groomed to be UFC champion. Henry Cejudo was groomed to be the Olympic wrestling champion, and he did that. And when he did that, he cried. He was excited and he was the champ and it felt like he had accomplished the world. That’s what Tom Aspinall did. Interim or not, they’re wrapping 12 pounds of gold around his belt. So he got emotional. That feels as real to him as that Olympic gold medal put around Cejudo’s neck back in Beijing. Tom’s father quit working to train him to go chase that belt. Henry’s wrong. Friend or not, he’s wrong.”

Cormier’s remarks were quick to draw a response from ‘Triple C’, as Cejudo fired back with the following tweet and caption:

“Hey DC, nobody asked for your 2 chins. Even though the belt couldn’t fit around your waist, it was still undisputed. Tom, congrats on being the best Side-Chick in the UFC.”

Hey DC, nobody asked for your 2 chins. Even though the belt couldn’t fit around your waist, it was still undisputed. Tom, congrats on being the best Side-Chick in the UFC. https://t.co/WXFNeC8hfu pic.twitter.com/Jo3DR1AirX

— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) November 18, 2023

“So DC man, you’re tearing on your Olympic teammate. You turned against the greatest combat athlete of all time. But you know what DC? I love it. If I was to win an Olympic silver medal, do you think you would see me running and running? Do you think you would see my crying? You think that I would have wanted to pick up that American flag and represent all of us? An interim belt just means you are the number one contender. For all you soft people that don’t like that, including Tom Aspinall. Because yeah, I will say this, it was too much. Save those tears. Save those tears for if you can beat a guy like Jon Jones. Truly beat the greatest of all time and say you are a real champion. I mean at the same time congratulations to Tom. But interim belts mean nothing. They mean nothing.”

Do you agree with Henry Cejudo that interim belts mean nothing?