Well, his scheduled title eliminator against Sergio Pettis is likely off now that the UFC’s resident Olympic gold medalist had a real-life brush with danger.
California is currently on fire, and it’s causing mass evacuations all over the southland.
Former UFC title challenger and top ranked Flyweight Henry Cejudo was on an Olympic retreat when the athletes were told to evacuate their hotel in Wine country.
Unfortunately, the UFC star opted to stay on the hotel grounds and was later forced to jump off his second story balcony to leave with his life.
As a result he broke his ankle.
He was scheduled to fight Pettis at UFC 218.
The San Francisco Chronicles has more:
A who’s who of athletes — Olympians, Hall of Famers — fled the Wine Country fires early Monday morning after attending Ronnie Lott’s celebrity fundraiser at Mayacama Golf Club in Santa Rosa.
Former Giants outfielder Barry Bonds wound up shuttling guests who did not have rides away from Mayacama when the villas at the course were evacuated. Longtime Kansas City pitcher Bret Saberhagen left his golf clubs in the parking lot in order to fit Olympic speedskater Dan Jansen and his wife into his rental car. And onetime Dodgers closer Eric Gagne raised the alarm at a second hotel to which the celebrities were sent, pounding on doors to make sure occupants were out.
“It was a crazy, surreal night,” Saberhagen said after flying home to Southern California on Monday. “I was out on the balcony at Mayacama when the power went out and sat down, and saw the moon come up. It was very nice. And then I saw the moon turn orange and it started getting lighter and lighter. I saw the fire coming over the ridge and I could hear propane and gas tanks popping.”
Saberhagen alerted Jansen and Toronto 1993 World Series hero Joe Carter about the fire, and 20 minutes later, just after midnight, they were told to evacuate, so Saberhagen dumped his clubs and set out with the Jansens to a second hotel, where there was no more room. They were sent to a Best Western, and an hour after checking in, at about 2:30 a.m., Gagne was at the door.
“Eric was yelling, ‘Get up, get up,’ knocking at every door, and when I opened the door, smoke billowed in and I could see areas on fire,” Saberhagen said. “There was a telephone pole on fire, the grounds were on fire, ashes were flying all over the place, and what really scared me was that there was a gas station across the street.”
Saberhagen and the Jansens raced to the car, and hopped on Highway 12, at one point passing a car that was engulfed in flames. They drove all the way to San Martin in southern Santa Clara County to spend the night. Hall of Fame hockey goalie Grant Fuhr and his wife weren’t able to find rides, Saberhagen said, and they had had to flag down a stranger, who drove them to San Francisco — a journey that took six hours.
According to Saberhagen and other attendees, UFC fighter Henry Cejudo didn’t evacuate from the Fountaingrove Inn in Santa Rosa and broke his ankle jumping from a second-story balcony.
Bonds also attended the event and was staying at Mayacama, according to friend Eric Byrnes. The ex-A’s outfielder and current MLB Network analyst told The Chronicle that he spoke to Bonds on Monday.
“Barry said, ‘You’re not going to believe this. It was crazy,’” Byrnes said. “When he walked out of his bungalow, the flames were right there, so he bounced out of there, and because so many people didn’t have cars, he was taking them all to the next hotel. He made multiple trips. He got evacuated again from that next hotel, but Barry was anticipating it, he said, ‘I know the fire is coming down here.’ It sounded really chaotic.”
Another attendee of Lott’s event, former 49ers and Mariners equipment man Ted Walsh, lives in the Fountaingrove neighborhood in Santa Rosa, and after he returned home, awoke to pounding on his front door at 2 a.m.
“I opened the door and there was swirling, hot air, and I could see all the police and firetruck lights,” Walsh said. “They said, ‘Evacuate now.’ I got my wife, kids and the dog and we were gone in five minutes.”
Walsh, wife Cybele and children Davis, 9, and Sabina, 8, and dog Lucky are fine, but the house went up in flames. A neighbor hiked up for a look and saw the entire court was gone.
Among Walsh’s prized possessions, lost in the fire: five Super Bowl rings and the gold medal he received at this year’s World Baseball Classic, along with many signed jerseys and other memorabilia.
“A lot of good stuff,” Walsh said. “There’s nothing left. We’re just shell-shocked. But this is when you find out who your friends really are, and so many people have reached out to us already.”
