For the first time in three years, Henry Cejudo returns to active competition at UFC 288—and he has a tremendous challenge in front of him.
Cejudo will challenge Aljamain Sterling in the main event, chasing a third UFC title reign. Sterling is pursuing his own piece of history, as a victory will give him a record third bantamweight title defense.
The 288 card is full of intrigue. Krol Gracie steps back into the Octagon for the first time since October 2019, where he will face off against Charles Jourdain. There is a featherweight bout pitting no. 10 ranked Movsar Evloev against Diego Lopes, as well as fourth-ranked women’s strawweight contender Jéssica Andrade battling Yan Xiaonan, who sits two spots beneath her.
Business picks up further in the co-main, as Belal Muhammad and Gilbert Burns took a fight on short notice—replacing the scrapped Charles Oliveira-Beneil Dariush bout—to determine either Leon Edwards’s next challenger for the welterweight title, or Colby Covington’s first. Burns will have his hands full with a relentless opponent in Muhammad, who can grapple and strike, and has not tasted defeat in his last nine bouts. Incredibly, this is already Burns’s third fight of the year. He competed last month at UFC 287, defeating Jorge Masvidal, but could not resist accepting this bout, which equates to a title shot.
Sterling and Cejudo carries the card, but it should be an entertaining night of fights at UFC 288.
