Ray Longo hopes video of Henry Cejudo parting ways with coach was staged: ‘If not, that’s a piece of s*** scumbag move’

Ray Longo is withholding full judgment when it comes to the video of Henry Cejudo parting ways with longtime coach Eric Albarracin ahead of UFC 298 and the former champ’s bout with Merab Dvalishvili, but the opposing head coach certainly believes Cejudo is doing it for attention.

Longo, the head coach of Dvalishvili, brought up the situation during his weekly segment on the Anik & Florian Podcast, mentioning the scene during UFC 298 Countdown where Cejudo informed Albarracin he will not be in the corner this Saturday in Anaheim, Calif. Longo also would guess that the moment looks as phony as can be — although co-host Jon Anik revealed to MMA Fighting in a recent interview that Cejudo’s corner sheet looked vastly different.

“I’m hoping it was staged when he got rid of Captain America,” Longo said of the situation. “It had to be staged, because if not that’s a piece of s*** scumbag move. I’d never even look at the guy again.

“I mean, you can get rid of the guy, but to do it on camera? This is what we’ve come to where everything has to be TikTok’d and all this, it’s all bulls***. Hopefully it’s bull****.”

Both Anik and Kenny Florian thought the firing was staged for the moment that made air, but Florian asked Longo why he believes Cejudo would do that in the first place, putting out a theory that, perhaps, Cejudo was playing mind games with Dvalishvili.

“I think it’s narcissism to the highest extent,” Longo said. “It’s all about him and that’s the way I’m interpreting it. You can’t do that with a guy who was with you when you won the gold medal. What do you have one or two fights left? It’s just stupid to me.

“He didn’t like the changes, so he didn’t look at himself, he looked at everybody else. That’s smart.”