Henry Cejudo says he will donate any bonus money he receives at UFC 218 later this year to those affected by the Northern California wildfires.
Cejudo, 30, witnessed the devastation of the fires firsthand, as he was in Santa Rosa, California, on Monday for a charity event.
An Olympic gold medalist in 2008, Cejudo lost his medal to the fire when the hotel he was staying in went up in flames. He escaped the area only after jumping out the window of his room on the second floor.
Cejudo's next bout is against flyweight Sergio Pettis on Dec. 2 in Detroit. The UFC awards four $50,000 "performance bonuses" at each event. Cejudo is confident he will win one and had pledged to donate it to fire victims.
"I'm going to dedicate this fight to all the people from Santa Rosa. I want to fight for them," Cejudo told ESPN. "I know I'm going to put on a show, and when I get a fight-night bonus, I want to dedicate that money to the relief fund.
"Some people don't know, there are a lot of people are still missing. I'm dedicating this fight to those people, and I'm going to give a $50,000 check to them."
Cejudo says he's hopeful he'll eventually reclaim his medal, which he won as a 21-year-old member of the U.S. wrestling team. First and foremost, however, he feels grateful to be alive.
On the night the fire engulfed Santa Rosa, Cejudo woke up to a hotel fire alarm at 2 a.m. He went back to sleep after investigating the hallway and finding no commotion.
He woke up again hours later, to a room filled with smoke. He could see the hotel lobby was on fire from his room and decided the only path to escape was through the window.
"I pulled the curtain on the window and it felt like daylight it was so bright," Cejudo said. "There were houses on fire. The hotel was on fire. I could feel the heat.
"I saw the lobby was on fire and knew there was a stairwell to get down there. I thought, 'If I go out into the hallway and lock myself out, then I really am dead.' There was only one way out."
Wearing nothing but slacks, with his phone in hand, Cejudo leapt to a grassy area below the room. He landed on a branch that had caught fire, and suffered burns to his right foot. He was the only living being in sight, as others had evacuated hours before.
"I was deserted," Cejudo said. "I didn't see one human being. I didn't see one cat, dog -- nothing. The only noise I heard was the fire.
"As I'm walking up this hill to get a bird's eye view of everything, I see two-story mansions on fire. I saw buildings and cars on fire. It was surreal, like a dream. I had no shoes, no time to grab anything but my slacks. I'm walking, barefoot, thinking, 'Damn, I'm literally in a ring of fire.'"
After making his way up the hill, Cejudo says he saw a police car in the distance and headed toward it. He was eventually picked up by a fire truck, which shuttled him to safety.
Cejudo is now in Natal, Brazil, preparing for the fight against Pettis. He has won a $50,000 fight-night bonus before -- in fact, he did in his last fight just five weeks ago.
He has also been in contact with the local fire department regarding the Olympic medal, but says his main focus is the fight and earning a bonus for those in California.
"I think they'll eventually find [the medal] in the rubbish," Cejudo said. "Everybody is pretty sentimental about it. They're not letting anyone into the area right now, but I think they'll dig for it when they can.
"My family is like, 'This is about you. We're happy you're alive.'"