Sterling beats Cejudo to retain UFC bantamweight title
Former two-division champion Henry Cejudo, who returned to the UFC after a three-year absence, lost by split decision to Sterling.
Aljamain Sterling has defeated Henry Cejudo by split decision in the main event of UFC 288 in Newark, New Jersey, to retain his bantamweight title and potentially retire the former Ultimate Fighting Championship two-division champion.
Sterling took the cards 48-47, 47-48, 48-47 in the hard-fought battle on Saturday night.
Cejudo, returning to the octagon after a three-year absence, had been the betting favorite coming into contention.
“I wasn’t sure which way the decision would go,” said Sterling. “I wish I could have done a little better, but Henry is one [expletive] dog, he’s a legend and it’s not an easy task to run through him like I did with everyone else.
He improved to 23-3 and Cejudo fell to 16-2.
Sterling, 33, landed more total strikes, 174-110 vs. Cejudo, including a 110-63 advantage in signature strikes.
Sterling won the 135-pound title via disqualification due to an illegal blow in a fight he handily lost to Petr Yan in 2021. He cemented his claim to the crown by winning a rematch via split decision a year later.
Bantamweight challenger Sean O’Malley stepped into the cage after Sterling’s win on Saturday, took off his jacket and stood face-to-face with him as the two fighters launched into profanity-laced tirades at each other and eventually had to be separated.
They may get their championship game later this summer. UFC President Dana White wanted Sterling-O’Malley to fight in August in Boston – and not in New Jersey late at night.
Cejudo, 36, is the only person to win an Olympic gold medal and a UFC title. He once held the bantamweight and flyweight titles – becoming one of only four UFC fighters to hold belts in two divisions at the same time. But he abruptly retired at his peak in 2020, relinquishing both crowns.
Cejudo said he was “a little confused” about his future plans and that he would return home to his family – his wife is expecting the couple’s second child – and think hard about his future in combat. He was wildly cheered through all five rounds by 17,559 fans who paid to see Cejudo attempt to turn back the clock.
“Who knows, this may be the last time in the octagon,” he said.
Born in Long Island, New York, Sterling successfully defended the Bantamweight Championship for the third time, a record.
Earlier in the night, Belal Muhammad (23-3, 1 NC) landed enough hard kicks to the upper body of Gilbert Burns to earn a unanimous decision victory in the five-round 170-pound bout.
Muhammad and Burns traded a few kicks in the third and the crowd let the fighters have it at the end of another round on the map suffering from a lack of sustained action. Burns appeared to have hurt his left shoulder on a botched takedown attempt and couldn’t take much offense, a reason for a methodical pace.
Muhammad was booed when he was announced as the 50-45, 49-46, 49-46 winner and then told the crowd, “New Jersey, you suck.”
The win established Muhammad – who entered the fight on just over two weeks’ notice and extended his winning streak to five and his undefeated streak to 10 straight fights – as one of the top contenders for a title shot against Leon Edwards.
Movsar Evloev defeated Diego Lopes by unanimous decision in a fight that Lopes accepted on five days’ notice after an injury forced Bryce Mitchell to lose weight. Yan Xiaonan beat up former UFC strawweight champion Jéssica Andrade with a big right hand and pounded away at her fallen foe for a TKO victory at 2:20 of the first round.
Yan’s victory could set her up for a 115-pound championship bout against fellow Chinese fighter Zhang Weili.