UFC 288: Aljamain Sterling vs Henry Cejudo Highlights
UFC 288 Sterling vs. Sahudo took place Saturday May 6th from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Top bannamowets collide when the UFC Bannamowet Champion Al Jemaine Sterling defends his title against the former gold medalist and former champion Henry Sahudo. Let's talk Sterling vs. Sahudo. Henry Triple C Sahudo, the former UFC Bannamowet Champion, UFC Flyweight Champion, and 2008 Olympic gold medalist and men's freestyle wrestling. 16-2 fighting out of Phoenix, Arizona comes out of retirement after three long years to try to reclaim his Bannamowet Championship from Sterling.
Triple C's resume speaks for itself. He has an undeniable work ethic and desire to train and learn, always growing and getting better, and over the years he has truly grown into one of the most impressive fighters in the UFC and looks to set more records tonight against the current champ. But on the other side of the octagon, you have the current UFC Bannamowet Champion Al Jemaine Funkmaster Sterling. 22-3 fighting out of New York and sets out to further cement his legacy by defeating the former two division champion in Sahudo. Al Jemaine is on a strong eight fight win streak and has looked impressive in his last outings. He has a very unorthodox style with an impressive wrestling and grappling pedigree and looks to add to his resume with a big win over Triple C tonight. Tonight's betting odds have Sterling coming in at a minus 120 favorite and Triple C comes out at a plus 110 small underdog.
And here's how it went down. There's a noticeable size difference with Al Jemaine. He is a lot bigger. And round one starts and Al Jemaine comes out aggressive looking to push the pace. But after the first tie up, Sahudo takes him down easily. But Al Jemaine right back up to his feet and looking for his own take down. And round two, Al Jemaine comes out aggressive again.
But the real story of the night was Sahudo having some issues with the range of Al Jemaine. But as the fight went on, Sahudo was starting to land some. But Al Jemaine was looking more comfortable standing and used great footwork and stance changes to give Sahudo different looks. But this was a close fight. Al Jemaine all night used his range niceling was landing a lot of effective kicks and they had some grinding and gritty wrestling exchanges against the cage. Sahudo was really pushing the action and the championship rounds and starting to land more. But Al Jemaine kept using great footwork giving Sahudo some issues.
But at the end of a very competitive round four, Sahudo did the full splits defending a take down. But Al Jemaine got the quick take down on the end. And in round five, there seemed to be a sense of urgency on Sahudo's part and he was pushing the action. But Al Jemaine did a fantastic job of countering and great movement. But seemed to be coasting a little bit. Sahudo was putting a lot of pressure and gets a take down late in the end. But Al Jemaine back to his feet, great defense.
This was a super close fight. But Al Jemaine Sterling defeats Henry Sahudo by split decision to retain his title. Alright, here's my final thoughts. There was a lot of questions that needed to be answered. But the biggest question we all had was could Sahudo after being sidelined for three years be able to step right back in the octagon after that much time off and defeat the streaking champ in Aljo. Well, we have our answer. This was a razor close fight.
But as the fight went on, Sahudo seemed to be more comfortable and there may have been some ring rust after a long layoff. But Aljo did a fantastic job of using his size, distance control with a lot of kicks and striking and excellent footwork given Sahudo different looks all night. It's like, yeah, I fought my ass off at the same time. It has been three years, but I had a great training camp. I know I could have done more or could have adjusted, not could have done more, but could have adjusted on some things. And that's kind of what bugs me a little bit. Just stupid little errors, like in particularly that first round, I was winning it, put it to the back.
I just allowed him to kind of still it at the very end. There's a lot of people think that I won. I mean, I don't know, you tell me. I mean, typically the way I see it, if I don't dominate, like to me, it's all or nothing. If I'm not first, I'm fucking last. And let's not forget Aljo landed two takedowns in round one and set the tone to show the former Olympian that he can wrestle and might have taken Sahudo by surprise. This was a razor close fight, but at the end of the night, Aljo was able to secure the victory and show why he's the champion.
I don't think a lot of people can even appreciate what was going on in the middle of that octagon. Both of us making adjustments to each other's adjustments. It was a high level physical chess match. And thankfully, I think I came out just a little bit better. And maybe that means my YouTube channel is a little bit better. Close fight, but I definitely thought I won and edged it out. In my personal opinion, I know there's going to be some critics out there saying, oh, once again, he has a controversial win.
He didn't really win that. SMD, bro, get used to this face because it's not going anywhere, guys. It's not. Guys, let me know in the comments what you thought of Aljo's performance tonight and who you think you should fight next. Just want to give a big shout out to all of our loyal fans. We always appreciate the support. This is Jay Catten with MMA Weekly's Lowdown Breakdown.
See you next time.
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