UFC 288 Sterling vs. Cejudo pre-fight discussion May 6, 6pm ET

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PurpleStorm

PurpleStorm

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UFC 288 is upon us Saturday. Bantamweight Champ Aljamain Sterling defends his title against the returning Henry Cejudo. The co-main is an intriguing welterweight match up of Belal Muhammad versus Gilbert Burns. Plus at straw weight the always exciting Jessica Andrade takes on striker Xionan Yan.

Do you have any breakdowns or predictions you'd like to share? Upsets, finishes or controversies you foresee? Which fights do you anticipate? Please keep the conversation civil and friendly. Join us in the play by play discussion during the fights. As always there's tons of content here to follow the weigh-ins, fights and post-fight analysis. Enjoy the fights!

Screenshot.png

BW Aljamain Sterling (22-3) vs. Henry Cejudo (16-2)
WW Belal Muhammad (22-3, 1 NC) vs. Gilbert Burns (22-5)
SW Jessica Andrade (24-10) vs. Xionan Yan (16-3)
FW Movsar Evloevm (16-0) vs. Bryce Mitchell (15-1). Edit: Mitchell out. 21-5 Diego Lopes from Brazil steps in on short notice and will make his UFC-debut.
FW Kron Gracie (5-1) vs. Charles Jourdain (13-6-1)
LW Drew Dober (26-11, 1 NC) vs. Matt Frevola (10-3-1)
LW Kennedy Nzechukwu (11-3) vs. Devin Clark (14-7)
WW Khaos Williams (13-3) vs. Rolando Bedoya (13-1)
SW Marina Rodriguez (16-2-2) vs. Virna Jandiroba (18-3)
HW Braxton Smith (5-1) vs. Parker Porter (12-8)
MW Phil Hawes (12-4) vs. Ikram Aliskerov (13-1)
FW Rafael Ramos Estevam (11-0) vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov (14-8)
MW Joseph Holmes (8-3) vs. Claudio Ribeiro (10-3)
BW Daniel Santos (11-2) vs. Johnny Munoz Jr. (12-2)

Here's the Shillan & Duffy preview. They disagree on seven fights. Wonder if this is the most they've ever picked differently. Maybe one of them will comment here on my question. Anyhoo there's many closely contended matches in store. Pick carefully friends. Plenty of underdogs have a good chance at victory.

 
PurpleStorm said:
UFC 288 is upon us Saturday. Bantamweight Champ Aljamain Sterling defends his title against the returning Henry Cejudo. The co-main is an intriguing welterweight match up of Belal Muhammad versus Gilbert Burns. Plus at straw weight the always exciting Jessica Andrade takes on striker Xionan Yan.

Do you have any breakdowns or predictions you'd like to share? Upsets, finishes or controversies you foresee? Which fights do you anticipate? Please keep the conversation civil and friendly. Join us in the play by play discussion during the fights. As always there's tons of content here to follow the weigh-ins, fights and post-fight analysis. Enjoy the fights!

Screenshot.png

BW Aljamain Sterling (22-3) vs. Henry Cejudo (16-2)
WW Belal Muhammad (22-3, 1 NC) vs. Gilbert Burns (22-5)
SW Jessica Andrade (24-10) vs. Xionan Yan (16-3)
FW Movsar Evloevm (16-0) vs. Bryce Mitchell (15-1)
FW Kron Gracie (5-1) vs. Charles Jourdain (13-6-1)
LW Drew Dober (26-11, 1 NC) vs. Matt Frevola (10-3-1)
LW Kennedy Nzechukwu (11-3) vs. Devin Clark (14-7)
WW Khaos Williams (13-3) vs. Rolando Bedoya (13-1)
SW Marina Rodriguez (16-2-2) vs. Virna Jandiroba (18-3)
HW Braxton Smith (5-1) vs. Parker Porter (12-8)
MW Phil Hawes (12-4) vs. Ikram Aliskerov (13-1)
FW Rafael Ramos Estevam (11-0) vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov (14-8)
MW Joseph Holmes (8-3) vs. Claudio Ribeiro (10-3)
BW Daniel Santos (11-2) vs. Johnny Munoz Jr. (12-2)

Here's the Shillan & Duffy preview. They disagree on seven fights. Wonder if this is the most they've ever picked differently. Maybe one of them will comment here on my question. Anyhoo there's many closely contended matches in store. Pick carefully friends. Plenty of underdogs have a good chance at victory.

Click to expand...


Going to be placing some bets on this one...Burns fighting for the second time in less than a month!
 
A yellow official event poster..

NO FUCKING WAY.

Wow, this is a really good card, imo. At least 9 really good fights of interest to myself on this card.

A BW title fight as the ME. The Co-Main is a number 1 contender fight at WW. The fight before that might actually be a number 1 contender fight in the SW division, too.

Those are extremely high level fights, imo.

And loads of names a regular watcher of the UFC will know.

Let’s start at the top..

Bring on the cringe. A champion a lot of people will just never like. Aljo who is from that general area next door to Jersey in NY. Fighting the King of Cringe in Cejudo.

A man some people think shouldn’t have the belt against a guy that never lost the belt in the octagon. I have so many questions.

I’m really not sure what to expect from Cejudo. He is 36 years old and his last fight was 3 years ago against a well past prime Cruz. Is it possible to return from a long hiatus at that age and weight class and win the belt back?

I say no. My pick will be Aljo.

And I hope you all realize that Cejudo winning would be the worst possible outcome of that fight for the BW division. He’ll sit on the belt. Cherry pick any defences he may have to make. All while demanding a free TS at FW. And crying about more money. And cringey shit everytime he opens his mouth.

The Co-Main is as high level as it gets. The winner is guaranteed the TS after Colby. I don’t particularly like Belal’s fighting style but it is effective. He is riding a hot streak of 8 wins in a row with a NC against the current WW champion thrown in for good measure. Belal turns 35 in a cpl months. And a man that fears nobody in Burns, who is a high level bjj player closing in on 37 years old.

Borz didn’t really want anything to do with Burns on the ground. Will Belal want to go to the ground against Burns?

I realized a few fights ago that Belal is no joke. I don’t dismiss him out of hand no matter who he is fighting. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I pick him to win, either.

That’s a really tricky one. I’m leaning Burns. But leans are subject to change after weigh-ins.

This fight is pretty much a coin flip, imo. A few of these fights are coin flips, imo. They’ll either go this way by this result, or that way by that result.

Andrade vs Yan. I really like both of these girls. The JBG in female form. And former SW champion Jessica Andrade. She’ll fight anybody, any time, anywhere, at any weight class. My deepest respect to her. But is she training and fighting too much? Burning herself out? Her last fight was a loss at 125, against Erin.

And the first female from China to fight in the UFC. Who was really rolling until she stumbled badly against Carla. Getting bloodied and finished on the ground. Her next fight was against Marina. And the decision was hotly contested. I believe Yan won. But officially it was a loss for Yan. Then she beat Dern in a 5 round ME.

I’m leaning Yan, but that might change on Saturday morning.

There are many more fights I’ll comment on through fight week.

This card has the potential to be REALLY good.

No controversies, and may the best fighter win. Enjoy the fights everybody.

Thanks for the thread PS.
 
Dan O'Burke said:
Going to be placing some bets on this one...Burns fighting for the second time in less than a month!
Click to expand...
Are you leaning toward Belal? I am partly because all that recent activity could catch up with Burns. It's gonna be a great fight.
 
TempleoftheDog said:
A yellow official event poster..

NO FUCKING WAY.

Wow, this is a really good card, imo. At least 9 really good fights of interest to myself on this card.

A BW title fight as the ME. The Co-Main is a number 1 contender fight at WW. The fight before that might actually be a number 1 contender fight in the SW division, too.

Those are extremely high level fights, imo.

And loads of names a regular watcher of the UFC will know.

Let’s start at the top..

Bring on the cringe. A champion a lot of people will just never like. Aljo who is from that general area next door to Jersey in NY. Fighting the King of Cringe in Cejudo.

A man some people think shouldn’t have the belt against a guy that never lost the belt in the octagon. I have so many questions.

I’m really not sure what to expect from Cejudo. He is 36 years old and his last fight was 3 years ago against a well past prime Cruz. Is it possible to return from a long hiatus at that age and weight class and win the belt back?

I say no. My pick will be Aljo.

And I hope you all realize that Cejudo winning would be the worst possible outcome of that fight for the BW division. He’ll sit on the belt. Cherry pick any defences he may have to make. All while demanding a free TS at FW. And crying about more money. And cringey shit everytime he opens his mouth.

The Co-Main is as high level as it gets. The winner is guaranteed the TS after Colby. I don’t particularly like Belal’s fighting style but it is effective. He is riding a hot streak of 8 wins in a row with a NC against the current WW champion thrown in for good measure. Belal turns 35 in a cpl months. And a man that fears nobody in Burns, who is a high level bjj player closing in on 37 years old.

Borz didn’t really want anything to do with Burns on the ground. Will Belal want to go to the ground against Burns?

I realized a few fights ago that Belal is no joke. I don’t dismiss him out of hand no matter who he is fighting. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I pick him to win, either.

That’s a really tricky one. I’m leaning Burns. But leans are subject to change after weigh-ins.

This fight is pretty much a coin flip, imo. A few of these fights are coin flips, imo. They’ll either go this way by this result, or that way by that result.

Andrade vs Yan. I really like both of these girls. The JBG in female form. And former SW champion Jessica Andrade. She’ll fight anybody, any time, anywhere, at any weight class. My deepest respect to her. But is she training and fighting too much? Burning herself out? Her last fight was a loss at 125, against Erin.

And the first female from China to fight in the UFC. Who was really rolling until she stumbled badly against Carla. Getting bloodied and finished on the ground. Her next fight was against Marina. And the decision was hotly contested. I believe Yan won. But officially it was a loss for Yan. Then she beat Dern in a 5 round ME.

I’m leaning Yan, but that might change on Saturday morning.

There are many more fights I’ll comment on through fight week.

This card has the potential to be REALLY good.

No controversies, and may the best fighter win. Enjoy the fights everybody.

Thanks for the thread PS.
Click to expand...
You're welcome ToD. Enjoy reading your thoughts on the fights.
 
Dan O'Burke said:
Going to be placing some bets on this one...Burns fighting for the second time in less than a month!
Click to expand...

PurpleStorm said:
Are you leaning toward Belal? I am partly because all that recent activity could catch up with Burns. It's gonna be a great fight.
Click to expand...

Good point. I’m thinking that about Andrade.

Tricky card to pick, imo.
 
TempleoftheDog said:
Good point. I’m thinking that about Andrade.

Tricky card to pick, imo.
Click to expand...
Agree. Super competitive card from top to bottom. Even the opening bout is a great match up. BW Daniel Santos (11-2) vs. Johnny Munoz Jr. (12-2). That's a phenomenal fight.
 
They should be payin us to watch this crap. :rolleyes:

I am going out Saturday night to a local pro boxing event watching real fighters fight. Hopefully Conor makes an appearance and gets in da ring..
 
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