'I want to be 1st intergender champion!' UFC's Cejudo calls out women's flyweight champ Shevchenko

After moving up in weight to become a double UFC champ, Henry Cejudo has set his sights on a completely different challenge: becoming the first 'intergender' champion, by calling out women's flyweight ruler Valentina Shevchenko.

Olympic gold medalist Cejudo, the UFC's flyweight and bantamweight champion, has had an insatiable thirst for glory since he won his first championship a year ago by defeating pound-for-pound great Demetrious Johnson. 

Not happy with conquering two weight categories in his own gender, Cejudo has bizarrely taken aim at female fight starlet Valentina 'Bullet' Shevchenko, the UFC women's flyweight champion.

Shevchenko scored a one-sided title defence of her 125-pound crown against Liz Carmouche in Montevideo, Uruguay, last weekend but in a video he released to Twitter on Sunday, Cejudo forecast the Kyrgyzstani champ could be next to "bend the knee" to him.

"So I am out here enjoying my beautiful Sunday here in beautiful Las Vegas," Cejudo said, addressing the camera.

"But my phone just keeps blowing up that somebody by the name of Valentina 'The Bullet' Shevchenko is the most dominant champion in the world. And guess what? I get a little jelly, because you know what she has gold and I want that gold! 

"Valentina Shevchenko, I have a message for you. I am looking to become the first intergender world champion that this world has ever seen. I’m calling you out. You can be the next to bend the knee to 'Triple C'."

The self-anointed 'Triple C', or 'Triple Champ', a nickname which references the two UFC titles and Olympic gold medal he holds, has given way lately to perhaps a more suitable moniker: 'The King of Cringe'.

Cejudo looks to have inhabited every inch of that title in his latest callout.

Of course, unless the UFC start holding events in international waters there is no chance that a bout between Cejudo and Shevchenko could happen as none of the various regulatory commissions in the United States would consider sanctioning an intergender bout.

However, this will do little to deter Cejudo, who is openly revelling in his 'champion' persona.

In June, he called for another 'intergender' contest with the UFC's other 'champ champ' Amanda Nunes, and in which he also mentioned Shevchenko, as well as any fighter apparently of any gender between the ranges of 99 to 149-pounds.

"I'm taking everybody from 99 pounds to 149 pounds. You know what? If Amanda Nunes wants to get it too, Valentina, I’m calling you guys out too. I take no prisoners," he said. "I'm such a gold digger, I want her gold too."

However, if speculation is correct it looks as though Cejudo's next opponent will be male as he is expected to face Joseph Benavidez in defense of his flyweight title in a repeat of a 2016 encounter won by Benavidez by split decision.