The UFC brings another PPV to Newark, New Jersey, this weekend with UFC 288, headlined by a UFC Bantamweight Championship bout between Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo. Read our preview of the UFC 288 main event below.
Read our review of the entire UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo event here.
The UFC 288 main card features an outstanding 5-round title eliminator bout between Belal Muhammad and Gilbert Burns in the co-main event. The rest of the main card features the likes of Jessica Andrade, Movsar Evloev and Kron Gracie.
The preliminary card also sees some great bouts, with a Lightweight slugfest between Drew Dober and Matt Frevola and a top-10 ranked Women’s Strawweight contest between Marina Rodriguez and Virna Jandiroba among them.
Find all the results from UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo here.
Read our quick hits from the UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo prelims here.
Aljamain Sterling (C) vs. Henry Cejudo
In a huge PPV main event, Aljamain Sterling looks to defend his UFC Bantamweight Championship for the third time at UFC 288 against the returning former two-division UFC Champion and Olympic Gold Medallist Henry Cejudo.
Sterling enters his near-home state PPV with the opportunity to headline a UFC event for the first time in his illustrious career. One of the most-maligned Champions in UFC history, Sterling won the title in 2021 in a controversial disqualification victory where he became the first person to win a UFC championship by disqualification.
Find the entire UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo fight card and start times below.
Sterling enters UFC 288 on an eight-fight win streak, tied for the longest in UFC Bantamweight history, with one of the best resumes in the division’s history. Making his UFC debut in 2013, Sterling is tied for the most wins in UFC Bantamweight history at 13, a streak that has featured wins over Jimmie Rivera, Cory Sandhagen, and former UFC Bantamweight Champions Petr Yan and T.J. Dillashaw.
Since the only knockout loss of his career in 2017 to Marlon Moraes, Sterling has been undefeated, earning a UFC title shot with a rear-naked choke submission of Cory Sandhagen. In 2021, he fought Petr Yan for the UFC Bantamweight Championship. In a bout that he was losing over four rounds, Sterling won the belt via disqualification due to an illegal knee by Yan which rendered Sterling unable to continue.
With many people claiming Sterling ‘took a dive’, an immediate rematch was made against Yan. Sterling came out victorious by a split decision in a closely-contested bout. In October, he backed that win up with a dominant TKO of former UFC Bantamweight Champion T.J. Dillashaw.
At UFC 288, Sterling gets the spotlight he deserves, fighting in essentially a hometown PPV main event. With a potential victory this weekend, Sterling will establish himself as one of the all-time greats, tying the record for most UFC Bantamweight Championship title defences and taking the outright lead for most wins and the longest win streak in the division’s history.
Across from Sterling in the UFC 288 main event will be the self-proclaimed greatest combat sports athlete of all time, Henry Cejudo, who returns to the Octagon after nearly three years away. A simultaneous UFC Flyweight and Bantamweight Champion and, at the time of winning it, the youngest American to win an Olympic Gold Medal in wrestling, Cejudo has a combat sports resume that stacks up against anyone.
Read our preview of the entire UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo main card here.
After winning Gold at the 2008 Olympics at age 21, Cejudo made his professional MMA debut in 2013, putting together a perfect 10-0-0 record in two years, with four wins already in the UFC. In a UFC Flyweight division cleaned out multiple times by Demetrious Johnson, Cejudo earnt a title shot with barely three years of professional experience.
Johnson would hand Cejudo his first MMA defeat with a first-round TKO, somewhat exposing Cejudo’s limited skillset and experience at the time. Cejudo would then lose a split decision to perennial contender Joseph Benavidez in his next bout, a fight he would have won had he not been deducted a point in the first round for repeated low blows.
From being 10-0-0 to being on a two-fight losing streak, Cejudo was in the toughest spot of his career. Through it all, he showed the resilience of an Olympic Gold Medallist, scoring back-to-back victories over Wilson Reis and Sergio Pettis to earn another shot at Demetrious Johnson’s UFC Flyweight Championship.
In one of the biggest upsets of all time, Cejudo would avenge his previous TKO loss and do what no Flyweight had ever done before, defeat Johnson. Cejudo won the UFC Flyweight Championship via split decision in a back-and-forth fight, showing drastic improvements from his first meeting with Johnson.
Cejudo would only get better from there, defending his title against UFC Bantamweight Champion T.J. Dillashaw via TKO, moving up to win the UFC Bantamweight Championship against Marlon Moraes again via TKO, and then defending his title against the greatest Bantamweight of all time Dominick Cruz, also becoming the first man to knock him out.
In the space of four fights and two years, Cejudo went on one of the most incredible runs of all time, establishing his place amongst the greatest mixed martial artists and combat sports athletes of all time. But in his prime, he unexpectedly decided to retire following his victory over Cruz.
While many believed he was using retirement as a negotiation ploy, Cejudo stuck by his decision and has not fought since. Instead, he moved into coaching alongside his long-time coach ‘Captain’ Eric Albarracin, helping the likes of Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson, Weili Zhang, Deiveson Figueiredo, and the ‘Pitbull’ brothers, all champions in their respective organisations.
Read our quick hits from the UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo prelims here.
After three long years, Cejudo returns to the UFC Octagon at UFC 288 in an intriguing stylistic matchup against UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling. Cejudo’s MMA skillset has evolved leaps and bounds since his first fight with Johnson, going from an Olympic-calibre wrestler to a knockout artist with a pressure Karate style.
Similarly, Sterling has based his game on his NCAA Division III All-American wrestling. However, his biggest asset has been his BJJ expertise, developed under the tutelage of former UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Serra. Perfectly blending his wrestling and submission game, Sterling has risen to the top of the sport, being one of the best grapplers in the UFC.
The UFC 288 main event is a true pick’em with serious question marks over Cejudo’s age at 36 years old, his three-year layoff, and how his wrestling will match up against the submission threat of Sterling. Combining all that with both men possessing unique, striking styles, we are in for a fantastic main event.
With both men already being ranked amongst the all-time greats, Sterling and Cejudo have the opportunity to bolster their already illustrious resumes, and with how both men have been speaking, potentially set up a super fight with UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski.
Read our review of the entire UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo event here.
One response to “UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo Main Event Preview”
Betted on the wrong guy ;(