“I have been through a lot in my life, and the success I’ve had came through a lot of hardship,”  Henry Cejudo had narrated to Yahoo Sports way back in 2015. Despite being a stellar UFC star now, ‘Triple C’ had a thorn-trodden path to the top, and he knows what hardships feel like. His life story is one of grit, perseverance, and beating all odds against him. Despite being raised in unstable and impoverished circumstances, he became an Olympic gold medalist and a two-weight UFC champion.

But life never stops throwing curveballs, even if you’re an esteemed champion, and Cejudo found that out first-hand at age 38. He already lost his Beijing Olympic gold medal once. ‘Triple C’ stated in an August 2018 podcast that he lost it in 2017, escaping the famous California wildfire, when he reportedly said he jumped out of the second floor of a hotel at 4:30 a.m. But that is a story for another day. In this story, “April was the cruelest month” for him—as T.S. Eliot once said in his poem ‘The Wasteland’.

Cejudo narrated the whole ordeal about an alleged vehicle with a drunk driver hitting his neighbor’s home on 4th April 2025 to Inside Fighting recently. According to the Olympian wrestler, an alleged vehicle came right into their neighborhood at around 80-100 mph and, unfortunately, crashed into one of his neighbors’ homes. Hearing the loud “bang.” Cejudo tackled the allegedly drunk suspect as he tried to leave the scene, and held him until the police arrived.

“It was a hit and run a week ago, they ran into my neighbor’s yard. The dude some freaking punk assaulted my neighbor after he ran into us. After he ran his car into his bedroom. Luckily, nobody was sleeping there; somebody would be dead. And you know I pretty much apprehended him. I grabbed him and waited for the cops to come.”, ‘Triple C’ said to Inside Fighting.

A few days later, came the horrifying story. His UFC belt was stolen from right under his nose. Cejudo stated, “It’s unfortunate because a few days later there, you know, bunch of news was over at our neighborhood. And they saw, they saw that the neighborhood was, you know, it’s a nice neighborhood. So did they decided to break in and they stole the camera, the belt.”

Losing your Olympic gold medal, then UFC gold—things couldn’t have gone horribly storied for the decorated UFC athlete. We’re at least glad Henry Cejudo wasn’t hurt in all of this. But the loss of two objects that represent a lifetime worth of sacrifice definitely hurts in ways not many can fathom. So what did Cejudo do? Well, he made a humble request to Dana White. Let’s take a closer look.

Henry Cejudo made a humble request to Dana White

Henry Cejudo lost his first-ever UFC championship belt from his studio in Phoenix, Arizona and that left him distraught. The reports of his stolen belt along with his producer Dylan Rush’s $10,000 worth of podcast equipment ran wild in the MMA world. Sadly, this led to Cejudo’s first championship belt ending up on eBay. It was priced at $10,000, and the seller appeared to be ironically named ‘DJmouse’.

Yes… the belt that was being auctioned online was the 38-year-old’s hard-earned achievement after beating the legendary Demetrious Johnson at UFC 227. “It’s the old-school belt [that was stolen]. So, you know, that’s the one I beat from Demetrious Johnson, dude,” Cejudo said in the recent Pound 4 Pound podcast.

A dejected Cejudo, who claimed to have always done well for others, could not understand what the universe was trying to teach him. “Listen, man, I did a good deed. I could have hurt this dude, too. I helped my neighbor from being physically assaulted… This guy could have died. My neighbor had a gun, and my other neighbor had a gun. This dude would have been dead,” Henry Cejudo lamented. “A few days later, my house gets broken into. You know what I’m saying? It’s kind of like ‘ah’! I got this nasty feeling in me.”

Since what was done could not be reversed easily, Cejudo decided to request his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, for help. He asked Abdelaziz to speak to Dana White and arrange a real UFC championship belt to replace the stolen one. Meanwhile, Golden Gloves champion, Junior Olympics winner, and ‘Triple C’s’ friend, Hughie Johnston, decided to buy the belt from the robber. He uploaded an Instagram post about his report to Fox Sports, speaking about the same.

What do you think will happen now? Will he get his belt back with his friend’s help? Share your thoughts in the comments below.