MMA Preview – Aljamain Sterling vs Henry Cejudo at UFC 288
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ALJAMAIN STERLING VS HENRY CEJUDO FACTS
When is UFC 288? Sunday 7th May, 2023 - 01:00 (UK)
Where is UFC 288? Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey (US)
Where can I get tickets for UFC 288? Click here to buy tickets for UFC 288
What channel is UFC 288 on? BT Sport 1
Where can I stream UFC 288? BT Sport subscribers can stream the fight online via the BT Sport website
For viewers in the United States, the event will be shown live on ESPN+ and you can sign up for access as part of a Disney Bundle here!
ALJAMAIN STERLING VS HENRY CEJUDO LOWDOWN
Aljamain Sterling (22-3) makes the short trip over to New Jersey for the third defence of his bantamweight title. It has not been a smooth championship run earning the belt thanks to Petr Yan’s (2021) illegal knee forcing a disqualification. He won the rematch (2022) although it was a dubious split decision, and he is coming off a TKO win. This time, over another former champ in TJ Dillashaw (2022) who went into that bout with a severely compromised shoulder that did not want to stay in the socket.
Henry Cejudo (16-2) makes his expected comeback from retirement. He walked off the stage as a two-division champion. He originally won the flyweight title squeaking past Demetrious Johnson (2019) in a split decision and then defended it against Dillashaw (2019). He then stepped up to bantamweight and collected the vacant title by putting Marlon Moraes (2019) away. He made his first defence a year later against bantamweight legend Dominick Cruz (2020) and strung together his third TKO on the bounce.
ALJAMAIN STERLING VS HENRY CEJUDO PREDICTION
If anyone is going to jump the queue of bantamweight killers, it is the former two-division champion. They are both grapplers by trade who have evolved into complete Mixed Martial Artists but the first attribute that stands out is their size. Sterling is a big bantamweight and will boast a seven-inch reach and three-inch height advantage over the former flyweight.
When it comes to striking, Cejudo has the edge with speed, power and is more cerebral setting traps with his karate-style movement. Where Sterling can leverage his height and reach is in the grappling exchanges. You will not find many fighters that are better at taking the back with his long limbs hooking and wrapping up his smaller opponents.
What makes this so interesting is that Cejudo is an Olympic wrestler who has never been submitted. He will also have a very well thought out game plan to avoid Sterling pouncing on his back.
We expect part of that game plan to evolve around meeting Sterling’s takedown attempts with knees and uppercuts. He will be full to the brim with confidence after knocking out Dillashaw, Moraes and Cruz who are all much better strikers than Sterling so, we expect his striking to be his first point of call.
For Sterling, we expect him to try and keep Cejudo at the end of his unorthodox punches and kicks before eventually shooting in. It is hard to see either man get controlled in the grappling exchanges so expect a lot of scrambles.
This is destined to be a fiercely competitive scrap. We can see Sterling hurting Cejudo on the feet and chaining enough takedowns together to sway the judges, but we can also see Cejudo’s wrestling nullifying Sterling’s offence and landing more damage.
Prediction: Cejudo via Decision - CLICK HERE FOR PARIMATCH'S WELCOME OFFER (BET £5, GET £30 IN BONUSES!)
Value bet: Cejudo via KO/TKO
