Henry Cejudo Provides One-Sided Prediction For Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O'Malley

Henry Cejudo believes that Aljamain Sterling won’t have any issues defending his bantamweight title against Sean O’Malley at UFC 292.

“Triple C” returned to the Octagon for the first time in three years when he challenged Sterling in the main event of UFC 288. Cejudo showed that he’s still got what it takes to hang with some of the best fighters the UFC has to offer, but he ultimately lost a split decision that marked Sterling’s record-setting third bantamweight title defense.

O’Malley entered the cage immediately following that fight to face off with Sterling, and the UFC moved quickly to get that matchup on the books. During the massive slate of fight announcements he made on Tuesday, Dana White revealed that bout will headline the promotion’s return to Boston at UFC 292 with a strawweight title fight between Weili Zhang and Amanda Lemos in the co-main event. 

Henry Cejudo Predicts Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley

Cejudo is in a unique position to break down the upcoming bantamweight title matchup considering he just spent 25 minutes in the cage with Sterling, and he expects the champion’s grappling to be too much for O’Malley to handle.

Sterling spoiled Cejudo’s return in the main event of UFC 288. (Ed Mulholland/USA TODAY Sports)

“I do believe Aljamain Sterling’s gonna press him, get him against the cage,” Cejudo told Chamatkar Sandhu. “If he’s able to take me down, he can take any of those guys down. So Sean’s gonna be in trouble. Sean just relies on his striking. I’m sure he works on the jiu-jitsu, but in MMA it’s just different. I do believe that Sterling’s gonna get on top of him and just pretty much just hurt him.”

A win over O’Malley would extend Sterling’s record number of title defenses and potentially be his last fight at bantamweight before moving up a division, but “Sugar” is currently on a four-fight win streak that includes three victories via stoppage. The #2-ranked bantamweight contender most recently fought when he took a split decision over former titleholder Petr Yan in a significant upset on the main card of UFC 280.

Cejudo initially seemed like he might retire again after losing to Sterling, but now the former two-division champion has been calling for a matchup with #1-ranked Merab Dvalishvili. “The Machine” is a close friend and teammate of Sterling, and although he’s willing to share the cage with Cejudo that proposed matchup will have to be put on hold until after he recovers from his recent hand surgery.

Read Also: Cage Warriors Champion Claims He Could KO Aljamain Sterling & Henry Cejudo: “They’re Just So Easy To Hit”

Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.

Source link