The UFC bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling, has confirmed that he will face yet another former champ in his next title defense. Speaking on his podcast, Sterling announced that he expects to face Henry Cejdo in his next Octagon outing after months of social media back-and-forth between the pair.
“I’m announcing that I am going to fight Henry next. We are targeting March. I will say Ali, brother, it’s done but it’s still not done until there’s ink on the paper but it’s done. But it’s still kind of not done but this is the fight that’s going to happen next.
Aljamain Sterling Confirms Cejudo As Next Opponent
This fight is going to happen. Obviously, you guys saw the face off with myself and Henry Cejudo. I have no problem fighting Henry. Never ducked anybody a day in my life. The UFC gives me the toughest competition and I always step up to the plate and I always win, except for that one time when I got sent to Neptune against Marlon Moraes. For the most part, I typically win.”
Sterling admitted that the contract has not yet been signed, but that the pair’s faceoff at PFL on Friday all but sealed the deal. In encountering “Triple C” face to face, Sterling said he felt like Cejudo overcooked the interaction.
“When we did the face off and he started to scream, I was like come on dude. This was cool until you did that. Why do you have to ruin the moment, bro? Why can’t you just be cool and be like calm? Do you have to scream and make a scene and make things awkward and I’m just looking at you and people are looking at you, like all right we just look like a couple of strange weirdos right now in this crowd.
I get why they call you cringy because that was just super unnecessary. You did not have to do that.” Sterling predicted that the matchup would be a “fun fight”.
“I like the matchup. I think it’s going to be a fun fight for the fans. I think, on paper, it will be more competitive, even though I think skill wise I think [Sean] O’Malley possesses more of a threat of fight ending KO, if that makes sense. Henry can win the fight but I don’t think he wins by finish. I just can’t see myself losing to Henry by finish.
That’s always possible but I just don’t see how Henry can find a shot that can put me out unless I ran face first into his knee like I did against Marlon Moraes, which knock on wood, I don’t think that’s going to happen again.”
Do you think Aljamain Sterling can take out Henry Cejudo, or will “Triple C” reclaim his crown? Let us know in the comments.
