Henry Cejudo gets a new opponent for his professional boxing debut: Javon "Wanna" Walton awaits him in Miami
Former two-division UFC champion and Olympic wrestling gold medalist Henry Cejudo will indeed make his professional boxing debut on September 26, 2026, in Miami against Javon "Wanna" Walton. The opponent change was confirmed on September 15, after the originally announced Nurideen Shabazz, known as Deen The Great, withdrew due to injury. According to a report by MMA Fighting, Misfits Boxing announced that Walton will take his place in the main event in Miami, giving Cejudo a significantly different challenge in the final stage of his preparations from the one he had originally been preparing for. The 20-year-old Walton has a professional boxing record of 3-0-1, with one knockout, and his official profile with Most Valuable Promotions confirms that he remains unbeaten. Cejudo will therefore make his first official professional boxing appearance against a considerably younger opponent who, despite being more widely recognized for his acting career, already has genuine experience in professional boxing matches.
Deen The Great ruled out due to injury, Walton accepts the fight on short notice
Cejudo was originally scheduled to box against Deen The Great, an influencer and boxer who has competed at crossover boxing events in recent years. MMA Fighting reported in late August that the bout had been arranged for September 26 at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, with a broadcast on DAZN, but the plan was changed less than two weeks before the event. According to the statement cited by MMA Fighting and other specialist media, Deen The Great was forced to withdraw due to injury, after which the organizers reached an agreement with Walton and his team. Misfits Boxing presented the replacement as one of the young professionals associated with Most Valuable Promotions, the promotional company led by Jake Paul. MVP CEO Nakisa Bidarian stated in the announcement that Misfits offered a significant financial guarantee for Walton to accept the fight on short notice, further demonstrating how important it was for the organizer to preserve an attractive main event after the originally scheduled opponent withdrew.
The change is also important from a sporting perspective. Deen The Great built his name primarily in the influencer and crossover boxing space, while Walton, although also known outside sport, has already competed four times in professional boxing matches. That means Cejudo has not merely received a new name on the poster, but an opponent with different experience, stylistic habits and preparation. In a statement published alongside the fight announcement, Walton emphasized that he is aware of Cejudo's status as an Olympic champion and former UFC champion, but that he accepted the opportunity without hesitation. His message that "this is boxing and this is my world" sums up the approach of the young fighter, who wants to ensure he is not viewed in this story merely as an actor entering the ring. Cejudo, on the other hand, said in the promotional statement that the change did not surprise him and maintained his usual confident tone ahead of the appearance.
Who is Javon "Wanna" Walton
Walton is known to a wider audience for his role as Ashtray in HBO's series "Euphoria", and he has also appeared in series such as "The Umbrella Academy". However, his boxing journey did not emerge as a short-term addition to his acting career. Most Valuable Promotions states on its official website that Walton competes at lightweight, is 20 years old, stands 173 centimeters tall and has a professional record of three wins, no losses, one draw and one knockout. According to data cited by MVP and MMA Fighting, he stopped Moises Guzman Almonte in the first round of his professional debut, later drew with Joshua Torres and continued his unbeaten run. His most recent confirmed appearance was in September 2025 in Montreal, where he defeated Anthony Mora by unanimous decision.
That résumé is still small compared with the careers of established professional boxers, but it is sufficiently developed for Walton to enter the fight with Cejudo with experience specific to the boxing ring. The fight will not allow reliance on wrestling entries, clinching in the MMA sense, takedowns or ground fighting, areas in which Cejudo built his greatest sporting advantage over decades. Walton, on the other hand, does not have anything close to Cejudo's overall level of experience in combat sports under the greatest pressure, but professional rounds fought exclusively under boxing rules represent a concrete advantage in familiarity with rhythm, distance and ring work. That is precisely why the opponent change alters the narrative of the bout: Cejudo is no longer entering merely an attractive crossover contest, but a professional boxing debut against a younger fighter whose career so far has developed within a traditional boxing framework. How important that difference will be will only be shown by the fight itself.
Cejudo has Olympic gold and two UFC belts behind him
Cejudo's sporting résumé is one of the most unusual among fighters who have competed in multiple combat disciplines. Team USA confirms that he won gold in freestyle wrestling in the 55-kilogram category at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He was 21 at the time, and his Olympic victory became the foundation of the reputation he later carried into mixed martial arts. The UFC signed Cejudo in 2014, and the organization's official statistics state that during his career he won the flyweight and bantamweight belts. He captured the flyweight title in 2018 by defeating Demetrious Johnson, and one year later he beat Marlon Moraes to become bantamweight champion as well, joining the small group of UFC fighters who have won titles in two weight classes.
Cejudo first retired from MMA in 2020, after defending the bantamweight title against Dominick Cruz, but returned to the Octagon in 2023. The comeback did not bring the result he was looking for: according to the UFC's official records and MMA Fighting reports, he lost four consecutive fights, including bouts against Aljamain Sterling, Merab Dvalishvili, Song Yadong and Payton Talbott. After losing to Talbott at UFC 323 in December 2025, he again ended his MMA career, with an overall professional record of 16-6. However, the end of his UFC appearances did not mean the end of his competitive activity. During 2026 he returned to wrestling through Real American Freestyle, and official results from that organization and USA Wrestling show that he defeated Urijah Faber and then, in August in Cleveland, pinned Dvalishvili after just 36 seconds.
That recent activity is important for the context of his boxing debut. At age 39, Cejudo is not arriving in Miami after a long period without competition, but after months in which he continued to train and compete in another discipline. At the same time, the fact that he remains in competitive rhythm does not eliminate the key difference between wrestling and professional boxing. Boxing requires a different stance, different reactions at range, different defense and energy distribution, while habits from MMA do not automatically transfer to a sport in which only punches above the belt are permitted. Cejudo has boxing training experience, and the UFC also lists an amateur boxing distinction from Arizona in his official information, but the fight against Walton will be the first time his boxing work is officially tested in a professional bout.
Large age difference, but experience points in two different directions
One of the most noticeable elements of this pairing is the age difference. Cejudo is 39 and Walton is 20, meaning nearly two decades separate them. Age alone, however, does not provide the complete picture. Cejudo has been through Olympic finals, UFC title fights and years of preparation at an elite level, while Walton's total professional boxing sample is currently limited to four appearances. On the other hand, the younger American has spent recent years developing his technique specifically according to boxing rules, while Cejudo is only now entering the professional ring in a discipline in which he cannot use the elements that made him an Olympic champion and formed one of the foundations of his UFC career.
For that reason, the sporting value of the bout lies in the clash of two different types of experience. Cejudo brings developed fight intelligence, a feel for the pressure of major events, training discipline and the ability to adapt during a fight. Walton brings youth, a longer reach stemming in part from his height of 173 centimeters compared with Cejudo's approximately 163 centimeters, and more immediate experience with the rhythm of professional boxing. The precise conditions of the fight, including the number of rounds and all technical details of the contract, have not been clearly stated in the available official announcements used for this review, so it would not be justified to assume them in advance. What has been confirmed is that Cejudo and Walton will headline the event on September 26 in Miami and that Walton accepted the fight on short notice following Deen The Great's injury.
Misfits Boxing continues combining MMA, traditional boxing and the crossover audience
Cejudo's move into professional boxing fits into the broader model of Misfits Boxing, an organization that in recent years has built events by combining well-known names from combat sports, influencers and athletes from other disciplines. The Miami event also includes former interim UFC champion Tony Ferguson, who, according to MMA Fighting's announcement, is expected to defend the Misfits middleweight title against Kenzo Biyong. Ferguson has already competed in this format since the end of his UFC career and therefore represents a different stage of the transition from MMA to boxing than Cejudo, whose meeting with Walton will be his first professional boxing match. In this way, the organizers are attempting to retain the interest of different audiences: traditional combat sports fans, UFC followers, younger digital audiences and viewers who know Walton from television projects.
For Walton, the fight carries a different kind of risk. Until now he has built his professional record step by step, while Cejudo brings a far more recognizable name and a significantly greater sporting résumé than his previous opponents. A victory over a former two-division UFC champion could bring him the greatest visibility of his boxing career so far, but a defeat would also become the most high-profile result of his young professional journey. For Cejudo, the situation is reversed: because of his achievements in wrestling and MMA, every appearance he makes automatically comes with high expectations, but he is facing a fighter who is almost half his age and who has already fought professional bouts in the very sport Cejudo is only now entering. That combination explains why the opponent change, despite its late timing, immediately attracted considerable attention from the combat sports public.
Miami gets an unusual main event ten days after the change was confirmed
Only eleven days remained until the event from the confirmation of the new opponent. According to MMA Fighting's announcement, the event is scheduled for September 26 at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, with the broadcast planned on DAZN. The organizer therefore had very little time to find a replacement capable of maintaining interest in the main event, while Walton has an equally short period for final, specific preparation for Cejudo. The short notice creates additional uncertainty because both fighters' preparation plans change in the final stage: Cejudo is no longer preparing a strategy for Deen The Great, while Walton enters a camp focused on an experienced fighter with a unique wrestling and MMA background. Although professional boxing limits the tools Cejudo can use, his ability to close distance and his experience in contact remain elements Walton's team must take into account.
At the center of the story, therefore, remains the question of skill transfer between disciplines. Cejudo has already proven that he can transition from Olympic wrestling to MMA and win UFC titles in two divisions, but professional boxing presents a completely different technical test. Walton, on the other hand, is trying to confirm that his status as a professional boxer carries more weight than the perception that he is primarily an actor and public figure. Their meeting on September 26 will not erase the difference between their careers, nor will it by itself provide a definitive answer as to who is the more successful combat-sports athlete. It will, however, provide a very concrete test of whether Cejudo's vast experience from other combat sports can compensate for his lack of professional boxing matches against a young, unbeaten opponent arriving in Miami with a 3-0-1 record.
Sources:
- MMA Fighting - confirmation of the opponent change, Deen The Great's injury, Walton's record and the context of Cejudo's boxing debut (link)
- Most Valuable Promotions - official profile of Javon "Wanna" Walton, age, weight class, 3-0-1 record and one knockout (link)
- UFC - official profile of Henry Cejudo, MMA record, UFC career and information about titles and boxing background (link)
- Team USA - Henry Cejudo's Olympic profile and confirmation of his freestyle wrestling gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games (link)
- USA Wrestling - RAF 12 results and Cejudo's victory over Merab Dvalishvili by pin in 36 seconds (link)
- FightNews - statements from the fight announcement and information about Walton's boxing background and his latest victory over Anthony Mora (link)
- MMA Fighting - original announcement of Cejudo's professional boxing debut against Deen The Great in Miami (link)
- MMA Fighting - information about the Miami event, the DAZN broadcast and Tony Ferguson's fight against Kenzo Biyong (link)