Aljamain Sterling has a theory about why Henry Cejudo retired when he did.
After Cejudo defended his bantamweight title for the first time with a TKO victory over Dominick Cruz again at UFC 249 in May 2020, he announced his retirement from the sport. However, three years later, he came out of retirement in the main event of UFC 288 as he looks to regain the 135-pound title against Sterling.
Before the fight started, Cejudo was talking trash about which the champion didn’t think much of. But now that he’s back, Sterling is confident he’ll bring Triple C back into retirement because he thinks Cejudo knows he’s not at that level and that’s why he retired in the first place.
“Henry quit when the competition got tough. I sat on the sidelines while we fought in the trenches of the stacked bantamweight division. But, if that’s who the UFC wants me to fight, that’s who I’ll fight,” Sterling said. He said on UFC Countdown.
Currently, Aljamain Sterling is a minor underdog against Henry Cejudo, but he’s confident he has all the tools to win and defend his belt for the third time. If he defeats Cejudo, he will set a UFC record for most title defenses for a bantamweight title, which he knows is huge for his legacy.
“It’s really cool (to be considered among the greats),” Sterling said on UFC 288 media day. “I had a couple of goals coming in the UFC. Obviously, one had to become the UFC Champion, and we were able to do that and defend many times. Getting into the sport was about changing my life and traveling the world and meeting new people. I was able to do a lot of That… I feel like I really won. Whether people want to include me in that conversation or not, that’s great. It’s nice to see that I’m in that conversation, but at the end of the day, I have to win anything like that to be a serious conversation. Still I look at Dominic (Cruz), and I think we’re all chasing his record.”
Sterling enters the scrap after his TKO win over TJ Dillashaw back in October.
Stay tuned to BJPENN.com on Saturday for full coverage of UFC 288.
Do you agree with Aljamain Sterling?