Henry Cejudo recently shared a wild story on his ‘Pound 4 Pound’ podcast with Kamaru Usman, revealing that he almost got into a brawl with UFC star Khamzat Chimaev at the Paris Olympics. Cejudo, a former Olympic gold medalist and two-division UFC champion, explained that while trying to get tickets outside the event, he encountered Chimaev, who was with a group of six men. Chimaev, seemingly upset by some critical comments Cejudo made about him on the podcast, confronted him, calling him derogatory names.

Cejudo sensed that Chimaev held a grudge, especially since the UFC middleweight star had blocked him on social media. Despite the tense situation, Cejudo wisely decided to walk away rather than escalate the confrontation, particularly since he was outnumbered. He later reflected that fighting in that situation wouldn’t have been smart, and though he enjoys trolling, he recognized that Chimaev’s emotions could be a liability for the fighter, especially considering how many fights he’s had to withdraw from recently.

Cejudo shared the following story:

“I have a crazy-ass story for you. Guess who was at the Olympics and trying to fight the Triple C? I think these dudes take sh*t so personal. I believe as an analyst you have to tell the truth. Yeah, I am comical but typically I do say certain things because I mean it. So that’s why I think (he was upset). He was in the ticket line, I was outside trying to get my damn tickets. Then he sees me and he’s like, ‘Henry Cejudo, you’re a rat piece of sh*t.’ I had a feeling this dude kinda had it (with me) because he blocked me from all the social media stuff. I’m just like, ‘Why? Why am I a piece of sh*t?’ And he just said I’m a piece of sh*t.”

“This is probably like 50 feet away. He was with like six dudes, and it was just me outside with Captain Eric (Albarracin) and his sparkly shirt, so I just left it. I was like ‘there’s too many of you guys.’ But that wouldn’t be the place to fight me. You give me an AR-15 it’s even, it’s on. I’m a troll, 100 percent, but to the level of trolling that I do, I’m a level of extreme more so as a competitor. Something like this can really hurt Khamzat in the sense of him being truly emotional, because how many fights has, he pulled out of and how many fans and trolls do you think are trolling him? How upset could you get? The last thing you want to do is fight emotional.”

Usman was surprised by the story, especially since there was no known bad blood between Cejudo and Chimaev prior to this incident. As Chimaev prepares for his next big fight, this encounter adds an interesting twist to his ongoing narrative.