Jason Miles
NJ’s NEWARK — After winning his title battle, Aljamaine Sterling almost lost another one in the Octagon.
In the main event of UFC 288 on Saturday night at the Prudential Centre, Sterling triumphed against Henry Cejuto by decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47). Sterling maintained his UFC bantamweight belt with the narrow victory.
Following the contest, the UFC invited Sean O’Malley to face Sterling in the Octagon. Over the microphone, which was being held by the interviewer Joe Rogan, Sterling and O’Malley started exchanging blows. O’Malley blasted Sterling for fighting “s—” and demanded that he “fight better than that” if he wanted to defeat him.
Sterling said to O’Malley, “I’ll drag your ass up and down the octagon.” I said, “Get your ass out of my cage.”
The crowd was in Sterling’s corner when O’Malley attempted to play to it by entering the Octagon. The teammates of O’Malley and Sterling got into an argument and then split up. Dana White, the president of the UFC, was one among those who stopped him. Sterling then joined the altercation, but it was swiftly broken up. In September, Sterling indicated he wants to challenge O’Malley.
During his post-fight interview, Cejudo, who was competing for the first time following a three-year retirement, claimed that this might be his last fight.
“I’m a little confused right now,” Cejudo admitted. “I’m last if I’m not first.”
The actual bout was quite close. For the majority of the battle, Sterling was successful in stopping Cejudo’s wrestling, for which he previously won an Olympic gold medal. While neither guy had much mobility on the feet, there were brief periods when he was on his feet during the stalemate-like struggle. Midway through the fight, Cejuto had a gash under his right eye.
“Persistence is the key to success, and that’s what we did,” Sterling said. … You can see who has scored the harshest blows by comparing my face to his.
He was ranked No. 9 in ESPN’s MMA pound-for-pound rankings. Before leaving the Octagon in 2020, Cejudo was at the top of that list.
Sterling (23-3) has a nine-fight winning streak. The Long Island, New York native won the bantamweight title by DQ from Petr Yan at UFC 259 in March 2021, and has since successfully defended it three times. In UFC bantamweight history, Sterling, 33, holds the record for both the most victories (14) and the longest active winning streak (9).
Before his retirement, Cejudo (16-3) had a six-fight winning streak. In 2018, the Arizona-based fighter from California broke Demetrius Johnson’s UFC flyweight division record. Ten months later, he claimed the vacant bantamweight title. Among the four fighters in the UFC who hold two divisional belts concurrently, Cejudo is the only one to accomplish this feat.
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