Henry Cejudo Ends Retirement to Face Off Against UFC Veteran
Henry Cejudo is stepping straight from a rough UFC send-off back into a wrestling spotlight, headlining RAF 6 against longtime UFC stalwart Clay Guida on February 28 at Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona, in a main event that leans fully into his Olympic pedigree and name value on FOX Nation.
Event and matchup
RAF 6 is booked for February 28 at Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona, with the card streaming exclusively on FOX Nation, positioning the show as a crossover play aimed at MMA fans and traditional wrestling audiences in Cejudo’s home state. Promotional officials confirmed that Cejudo will face 37-fight UFC veteran Clay Guida in the headliner, framing the bout as a meeting of two of the most recognizable names from the lighter UFC divisions of the last decade and a half.
The match marks Cejudo’s first high-profile wrestling appearance since his full-time move into MMA, a return to the surface that made his name long before “Triple C” became a staple on UFC broadcasts. For Guida, the booking offers a fresh lane late in his career, after a UFC run that has spanned from the mid‑2000s through dozens of Octagon appearances.
Cejudo’s recent UFC exit
Cejudo walked away from MMA again after UFC 323, where he dropped a unanimous decision to rising bantamweight Payton Talbott in Las Vegas, closing a difficult second act in the Octagon. The loss to Talbott was his fourth straight defeat following his comeback, leaving his late-career UFC record at 0-4 against Aljamain Sterling, Merab Dvalishvili, Song Yadong and Talbott after returning from a three-year layoff.
His second retirement was telegraphed before UFC 323, as Cejudo publicly framed the Talbott fight as his final MMA outing and reiterated afterward that he was ready to move on from the sport as an active competitor. That run stands in sharp contrast to the stretch that preceded his first retirement in May 2020, when he stopped Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 to defend his bantamweight title after a KO of T.J. Dillashaw and a decision win over Demetrious Johnson that made him a two‑division UFC champion.
From Olympic gold to RAF 6
Before his UFC breakthrough, Cejudo captured Olympic gold in freestyle wrestling at the 2008 Beijing Games, becoming, at the time, the youngest American to win Olympic wrestling gold at 21 years old and establishing the base that later fueled his MMA run. That credential has always been central to his branding as “Triple C” – Olympic champion, flyweight champion, bantamweight champion – and RAF 6 gives him a chance to lean back into that wrestling identity in front of a live crowd and a subscription TV audience.
Guida brings a different but complementary résumé, with more than 30 UFC appearances that have included bouts with champions and contenders across multiple eras and a career known for high-output, scramble-heavy fights that translated well to casual fans. Matching him with Cejudo in a wrestling-focused main event taps into nostalgia for longtime viewers and offers both men a stage that eases the transition from top-tier UFC booking into the post‑prime phase of their competitive careers.
