Aljamain Sterling retained his bantamweight title against Henry Cejudo at UFC 288:

The main event for the bantamweight title at UFC 288 inside the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, went on to a split decision victory by Aljamain Sterling over Henry Cejudo. The match went on to the last round, where Aljamain Sterling came out dominant and regained his bantamweight title. Both fighters did well, but Sterling was a bit better to take the King of Cringe, Henry Cejudo.

Read more: UFC 288 press conference

How Aljamain Sterling secured his Bantamweight title?

Aljamain Sterling With his win at UFC 288 he now has the most wins in the bantamweight division (14) and his winning streak stands at 9 currently. Henry Cejudo, after three years of retirement, wanted to make a comeback by securing the win in the match to gain the title, which he had never lost in the octagon. Though it was a tough performance, after five rounds of intense battle between the fighters, Aljamain Sterling came out victorious.

In the very first round, Cejudo gave a great takedown to the champion, but he backed up with some good long-range strikes and took Cejudo’s back. The challenger somehow managed to get out of the position, and Sterling won the first round. In the second round, Cejudo landed a comeback head kick that Sterling defended well, and later on, he started to dominate the fight and landed cleaner shots than Henry Cejudo.

Sterling was so prepared for the takedowns and defended himself properly against Cejudo’s attempts. What is impressive is that he also counterattacked with takedowns in five rounds, which earned him crucial points over Cejudo. The fight ended with a split decision, with two judges scoring Sterling 48-47 and the third one scoring in favor of Cejudo (48-47).

Post-Fight (Aljamain Sterling vs Henry Cejudo):

After the fight, both fighters praised each other in the octagon, and Aljamain Sterling called out Sean O’Malley, and they both had verbal altercations.