UFC veteran Matt Brown has criticized former two-division champ Henry Cejudo for publicly firing his head coach Eric Albarracin and making wholesale changes to his team ahead of his fight at UFC 298, suggesting that Cejudo should take personal responsibility for his loss to Aljamain Sterling rather than blaming others.
Matt Brown rates Henry Cejudo as a top-tier combat athlete. But, he’s not thrilled about what he’s hearing from the ex-two-division champ before UFC 298.
Cejudo had previously stated his fight against Merab Dvalishvili was career-defining. Then, he publicly sacked his head coach Eric Albarracin on UFC Countdown. A strange way to part with someone who’s been with him for over a decade.
Cejudo told Albarracin he was “cutting specific coaches … and you’re one of them.” Maybe it was a publicity stunt? If Albarracin shows up next to Cejudo during fight week, we’ll know. But if not, Brown isn’t a fan of how it went down.
“The way Eric took it, it seemed premeditated,” Brown said on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “If someone did that to me, I’d be like, ‘What the hell, couldn’t you do this privately?’ But he took it well and stayed positive.”
This made Brown think they probably planned it. We’re discussing it right now, so their assumed plan seems to have worked.
If it wasn’t staged for the UFC Countdown crew to film, Brown thinks Cejudo is making a potentially huge mistake. Especially before such a crucial fight.
Brown, a 16-year UFC veteran, isn’t criticizing Cejudo as much as sharing a valuable lesson from his own career.
“I’ve made the mistake of firing people, dropping coaches, working with different coaches, and my opinion has changed,” Brown explained. “I used to think the next guy was more professional, better. Then, over time, I realized the problem wasn’t my coaches. It was me.
“It’s like if you’re bouncing from girlfriend to girlfriend, and eventually you’re like, ‘OK, if I’m dumping them or they’re not sticking around, there can’t be that many bad ones, right? I’m the problem.’ Same with friends or any relationship. Coaching is just a relationship, especially with someone like Eric, who’s brought him so far and achieved so much.”
Brown has seen it happen often in the sport. A fighter builds a relationship with coaches and a gym only to bolt at the first sign of trouble. In this case, Cejudo lost to Aljamain Sterling last May. Now he’s making sweeping changes before his return at UFC 298.
“A friend, Roli Delgado, mentioned this to me. He hates when he sees that,” Brown said. “These guys get so far, then they switch camps or go to a big camp like [American Top Team] as soon as they lose a fight. He made a great point. Statistically, one fight isn’t the reason to change anything. You’ve won nine, 10, 12, whatever fights, losing one — that’s like five percent of your fights.
“It doesn’t make sense to change things based on that. You lost a fight because of you, not them.”
From his experience, Brown says it’s all about personal responsibility. Cejudo — or any other UFC fighter — should own the mistakes that led to a loss.
“They start blaming others,” Brown said. “I’ve done it myself. I’m not criticizing anyone else. I learned this from my own mistakes. You can’t look at others as the mistake. Jocko Willink wrote the best book ever about extreme ownership. Whatever happens to you, good or bad, is your fault, not theirs.”
In addition to the coaching change, Cejudo also labeled his fight with Dvalishvili as “all or nothing.” A win would get him another shot at a UFC title. But a loss likely means he “would probably be done with fighting again.”
That mindset could keep Cejudo focused on the task at hand. It could force him to realize there’s no tomorrow without winning on Saturday night. The other scenario is that Cejudo already has retirement on his mind again. Brown knows that’s a risky game to play in MMA.
“When Henry says, ‘If I lose this fight, I’m retiring,’ Dana [White] has talked about this a million times — you can’t be half in, half out,” Brown said. “If you’re already thinking about it, Dana’s going to tell you, you need to step out. When you start putting ‘ifs’ on there, you already gave yourself an out. That’s not a good place to be with someone like Merab.
“Henry’s also the type of guy that could probably be half in, half out, and still beat 99 percent of people. He’s a savage. I don’t personally like those things but Henry is a strange guy. He’s unique. Maybe if it works for him and it gets his mind right for the fight, it might work.”
Looking at the fight itself, Brown would usually pick Cejudo to win. But given everything that’s happened leading up to UFC 298, he can’t make that prediction anymore.
“I don’t like what I’m hearing from Henry,” Brown said. “I would pick Henry to beat him most of the time. Merab’s a much more straightforward wrestler, which is going to play into Henry’s hands. Very different stylistically and I think that would play right into Henry’s hands. If Henry is the best version of himself at UFC 298 and Henry is well-prepared as he should be and his mind is there, then I think he wins this fight. Matchup for matchup, I’m picking Henry.
“But like we’re saying, if his mind’s not there, Merab’s not the guy you want to go in fighting with your mind not being there. If he’s already thinking about, ‘Boy, it would be nice to be sitting in the Bahamas rather than out here grinding with these sweaty guys,’ it’s not a good place to have your mind.”
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