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Does Prime Cejudo beat Sterling, Merab and Song?

It's worth noting that the Cruz who (barely) beat TJ had only fought once in the previous 4 year and already had ACL injuries/surgery. The prime, young Cruz had speed and footwork than Merab has never seen. Of course he didn't have TJ or Aldo's power, so there was no KO threat. But I think it would be tricky to TD or corner Cruz very much. I think it would be a fascinating and tough fight for both prime Cruz and Merab if they fought each other. It wouldn't be a "just bleed" fight where someone got finished, though.
What concerns me about the Cruz fight is Merab's cardio. He won't get tired of chasing Cruz and without KO power, I can see Merab straight up rushing into clinches and not letting go but then again, Prime Cruz, like you said, was a different fighter and he would be levels faster than Merab. He also had great wrestling and scrambles off his own.
TJ tho; amazing striking and wrestling, with elite cardio and killer instinct. I would actually favor him to beat Merab.
 
I give him 80% chance vs Song
About a 60% chance vs Aljo
And about a 10% chance against Merab
 
He is better than all of them, but a bit undersized. I think he beats Merab in his prime, just way more skilled, better wrestling and better boxing. Aljo is big, might giving some issues, but Henry is tougher, so I would actually favor him against all.
 
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I think song would be easy for a time prime Henry. He also beats aljo and merab but those are tougher fights especially if he's going 5 with merab, if Henry didn't get an early ko when younger he's not gassed after one I think he'd be up three or four rounds before finishing the fight getting ragdolled.
 
Age matters and cejudo didn’t take advantage of his prime years and hit the wall and doesn’t realize it like most women.
 
He's a tough matchup for all. But he's too undersized at bantamweight to be a dominant champ.
Size matters, even between flyweight and BW. Cruz beat DJ at BW...then DJ moved down to flyweight where he dominated for years.
 
Henry’s olympic achievment has somehow been transposed over his MMA career. Defending champ champ is cool and all, but if we cross examine his MMA career:

-Splitty city over Demtrious. There should have been a rubber match. Great win, but hotly contested.

-Moraes went 1-7 after Henry beat him. Not sure what happened there, but he clearly lost the “magic” after Henry beat him. Fair play to Henry, but that win hasn’t aged well.

-TJ looked like he was on death’s doorstep. Had no busniess at FLW.

-Dom shouldn’t have even gotten the TS. He was way past prime at this point, and fresh off a loss to necktat.

None of this is Henry’s fault; he can only fight who’s put in front of him. To the OP; no version of him beats Aljo or Merab, or prime Cruz. I also think that prime TJ at BW smokes him.

I do think a younger Henry beats Song, though. He was losing that fight, clearly, but he was in it. I don’t need them to run it back, but Henry may have been able to pull something off in the champ rounds.
 
No I dont think so at BW he's nothing special even his win over Morales he faced a lot of adversity and yes while he did win he showed heart against a fighter known to gas and pulled out the W cruz win was good too but I think the New generation of bigger BW's like Sterling, Song, Chito, Song, Sean, Cory all beat him easy and even at his best he'd struggle.


at Flyweight however he's one of the best ever and would probably beat pantoja, figgy or moreno when he was in his prime. At BW though? I don't think he's anything to write home about.
 
I know he beats song. He was already getting the better of the stand-up as soon as he switched stances, beating him with a Jab.
 
I wouldn’t count Prime Cejudo out against anyone, especially if they went best 2 out of 3.

The way he adapted to Demetrius Johnson in their second fight, and to Marlon Moraes after getting beat up for 2 rounds..

No short of genius. When he was still young and hungry he was a beast.
 
Henry’s olympic achievment has somehow been transposed over his MMA career. Defending champ champ is cool and all, but if we cross examine his MMA career:

-Splitty city over Demtrious. There should have been a rubber match. Great win, but hotly contested.

-Moraes went 1-7 after Henry beat him. Not sure what happened there, but he clearly lost the “magic” after Henry beat him. Fair play to Henry, but that win hasn’t aged well.

-TJ looked like he was on death’s doorstep. Had no busniess at FLW.

-Dom shouldn’t have even gotten the TS. He was way past prime at this point, and fresh off a loss to necktat.

None of this is Henry’s fault; he can only fight who’s put in front of him. To the OP; no version of him beats Aljo or Merab, or prime Cruz. I also think that prime TJ at BW smokes him.

I do think a younger Henry beats Song, though. He was losing that fight, clearly, but he was in it. I don’t need them to run it back, but Henry may have been able to pull something off in the champ rounds.

I agree, Cejudo's streak of 4 wins is full of smoke and mirrors that have obscured people from accurately judging where he's at.
 
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