Cejudo wants 'greatest combat athlete' consideration with Olympic gold, possible UFC title

There have been three Olympic gold medalists in freestyle wrestling to compete in the UFC and Henry Cejudo wants to be the first to capture a matching gold belt.

Cejudo is booked to meet flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson at UFC 197 in April. Should he remain undefeated and put a stop to Johnson's own impressive streak of seven straight title defenses, it would make Cejudo the only athlete to claim the top prize in international wrestling and MMA.

"The Messenger" is aware of the unique opportunity he has and he hopes the magnitude of that achievement is given proper recognition when the time comes.

"Until somebody breaks my record of becoming a gold medalist and winning a UFC belt, I would consider - I would hope the people would see me as probably the greatest combat athlete to compete in the sport because of the accolades I have," Cejudo told Mike Bohn of MMAjunkie.com. "(UFC champion) Holly Holm is there, a boxing world champion and now an MMA world champion, but I feel the purity of the Olympics and the UFC belt, it would just - it's hard to top."

Cejudo already owns the record for being the youngest American to win Olympic wrestling gold. He was just 21 when he conquered the 55 kg weight class in Beijing in 2008.