May will bring with it the return of former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo.
Cejudo takes on UFC bantamweight titleholder Aljamain Sterling on May 6 at UFC 288. The event goes down live on ESPN+ pay-per-view from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
After defending his bantamweight title in 2020 with a second round finish of Dominick Cruz, Cejudo walked away from the sport. He left a record of 16-2 overall with titles won in the flyweight and bantamweight division.
Prior to joining the world of mixed martial arts, Cejudo was one of the most decorated wrestlers in U.S. history. He gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics and was a three-time Pan American Championships winner along with two U.S. National golds.
Many wondered if anyone would be able to challenge Cejudo once he got his feet wet in the sport. And for three years, nobody did, as he ran through Demetrious Johnson, TJ Dillashaw, Cruz and current Bellator champion Sergio Pettis.
But it was not enough for Cejudo. He felt disrespected and slighted because he competed at a smaller weight class. So he left.
Three years later, though, and all has been forgotten. Cejudo returns to claim his crown against a man who has quickly climbed the charts.
Sterling, a native New Yorker and pupil of the same gym that produced Chris Weideman, has not lost since 2017. He won the belt in 2021 over Petr Yan and secured his standing with a win in the rematch.
Last October, Sterling finished off Dillashaw for another title defense, bringing his current win streak to eight with an overall record of 22-3.
The rest of the card includes Belal Muhammad vs. Gilbert Burns, Jessica Andrade vs. Yan Xiaonan and Movsar Evolev vs. Bryce Mitchell among others.
