Contributor: Dan Galvan
When most Americans turn twenty-one years old, they celebrate their newfound freedoms of drinking alcoholic beverages and gambling. When Henry Cejudo was twenty-one years old, he celebrated an achievement that hundreds of thousands American wrestlers dream of. At the age of twenty-one, Henry Cejudo won an Olympic gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, becoming the youngest American freestyle wrestler to ever accomplish such a feat.
Winning an Olympic gold medal would be the pinnacle of any normal person’s life. A normal person would be content with earning a gold medal that essentially says that they were the best at what they did. Henry Cejudo isn’t a normal person.
Growing up with six siblings, Henry Cejudo was raised by his mother, Nelly Rico. In 1986, Nelly immigrated to the United States from Mexico. Because Henry’s father had drug issues that would lead to several chunks of time spent in Californian prisons, Nelly had to work multiple jobs to provide for her family on her own.
Using the adversity that he faced growing up as fuel, Henry Cejudo followed in the footsteps of his brother, Angel, and started competing in amateur wrestling. The work and time that Cejudo dedicated to honing his craft began to show in high school where he won four state championships [two in Arizona and two in Colorado].
Cejudo’s success drew the attention of USA wrestling developmental freestyle coach Dave Bennett. Bennett asked Cejudo to forgo a collegiate career and instead begin training straight out of high school at the Olympic Training Center. Henry, along with his brother Angel who had also received an invitation, accepted the opportunity and made the most of it.
When someone faces as many hardships as Cejudo has, there is a fire that is developed inside a person. A fire that is hungry, 
starving, for success. A fire that wants nothing more than to climb to the top of the mountain, no matter how hard that climb is, and achieve the American dream. At the 2008 Olympics, Cejudo did just that, but for someone like Henry Cejudo, there is no such thing as an end point to the climb. There is only the next obstacle to overcome.
The next obstacle for him was Olympic glory once again, this time in 2012. Unfortunately for Cejudo, he was unable to make the Olympic team. Nick Simmons beat him in the US Olympic Trials. Following his defeat, Cejudo removed his shoes and chucked them into the crowd, signifying that his Olympic wrestling career was over.
With his competitive wrestling career concluded, it was only a matter of time before Henry Cejudo got the itch to compete again. Eventually the itch developed for Cejudo, this time the itch was for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.
On March 2nd, 2013, Cejudo made his professional debut in a fight against Michael Poe, a fighter that amassed a record of 2-0 as an amateur and 0-4 as a professional. The fight went predictably Cejudo’s way. The Olympic champ took Poe down with a double-leg, pinned his opponent’s foot against his head, and rained down punches until Poe tapped out.
Finishing opponents with strikes in the first round became a trend for Cejudo who ended up doing the same to his next three opponents: Sean Henry Barnett, Anthony Sessions, and Miguelito Marti.
A 4-0 professional resume earned Henry Cejudo the main event spot on Legacy Fighting Championship 24 against Ryan Hollis. After an uneventful first frame, Cejudo controlled the latter two periods with his wrestling and ground and pound en route to a unanimous decision win.
What’s next for Henry Cejudo is a fight this Friday, once again in the Legacy Fighting Championship cage. Cejudo will face Humbert Deleon in the co-main event slot at the Arena Theatre in Houston, Texas.
Here’s a scouting report I’ve put together after watching all of Cejudo’s five professional fights.
What I Love About Cejudo’s Game:
To the surprise of no one, Cejudo’s game is directly tied to his superb wrestling acumen. There is no flyweight fighter on the planet with better wrestling skills than Cejudo. He has a deceptively quick takedown shot. What makes Henry’s takedowns that much more scary is that he is essentially ambidextrous with his shots. Although Cejudo is right dominant, he likes to shoot from his left. On the ground, Cejudo hasn’t needed to attempt submissions because of his destructive ground and pound. Having finished four of his opponents with ground and pound, Cejudo has exhibited power, precision, and an unrelenting pace.
Thanks to his training with relatively unknown boxing coach Abel Cortez and three and a half years of experience on the Arizona boxing circuit, Cejudo is much more advanced on the feet than your stereotypical wrestler. His reflexes and speed have aided him standing by being able to pop in and out of the range of opponents and batter them with punching combinations.
What I’d Like To See Cejudo Improve On
Even though his stand-up is more advanced than most wrestlers transitioning to MMA, Cejudo still has plenty of room for improvement in that area. His striking defense is hampered by a lack of consistency with his footwork, stance, and head movement. In his first five fights, he’s shown that he possesses those fundamentals, but from time to time, Cejudo has abandoned them, which has led to being hit with significant strikes. His striking offense isn’t lethal, but that’s not his style.
On the ground, his grappling game has a few holes. For one, when does score the takedown, he has allowed his opponents some space to get back up. I’d like to see Cejudo apply more of his weight and hips to keep his foes down and in position for bigger serving of ground and pound punishment. Also, he’s left his head and arm in positions that would have ended up in an arm-bar or triangle choke by a top-level submission artist.
Simply put, I’d like to see Cejudo refine his defensive consistency and ability to keep his opponent on the ground as he grows into his MMA shoes.
Conclusion
Any fighter that excels so dramatically at one aspect of the game like Cejudo has to be considered a real prospect. What has moved Cejudo up my rankings of prospects to number one in the flyweight division has been his devastating ground and pound and surprising stand-up. I don’t like to use too many hyperboles, but I truly believe that the ceiling for Henry Cejudo is UFC stardom. I might as well stop doing these prospect profiles right now because I seriously doubt that I’ll profile an individual with higher upside than Henry Cejudo.
(Sources: http://www.henrycejudo.com
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