Henry Cejudo on verge of retiring again after Aljamain Sterling wins at UFC 288

Aljamain Sterling survived a late takedown that sent a packed crowd into a frenzy and held on to his 135-pound championship with a split decision victory against Henry Cejudo in the main event of UFC 288 on Saturday night.

The 33-year-old Sterling won his ninth straight fight and spoiled Cejudo's comeback after a three-year retirement. Sterling was immediately confronted inside the cage by challenger Sean O’Malley and the two fighters instantly needed to be separated.

Sterling (23-3) launched into a profanity-laced tirade against O'Malley and was booed out of Prudential Center by 17,559 fans that paid to watch Cejudo tried to turn back the clock.

Cejudo, the only person to win an Olympic gold medal and a UFC title, held the bantamweight crown when he abruptly retired in May 2020 after he successfully defended the championship against Dominick Cruz.

“I hate losing but it's also been three years,” Cejudo said.

Cejudo said he was a “little confused” about his future plans and would return home and think about his fight future.

“Who knows, this may be the last time in the octagon,” he said.

Sterling won 48-47, 48-47 on two scorecards and Cejudo won 48-47 on the other.

At 21, Cejudo became the youngest American to capture an Olympic wrestling gold medal when he won the freestyle 55-kilogram division in 2008.. At 36, Cejudo may finally call it quits instead of continuing to chase another UFC championship.

Belal Muhammad (23-3, 1 NC) landed enough stiff kicks to Gilbert Burns’ upper body to earn a unanimous decision victory in the 170-pound five-round fight.

UFC fighter Conor McGregor bashed the fight on Twitter.

He wasn’t alone in his biting critique of a bland fight that earned plenty of boos from the New Jersey crowd.

Muhammad and Burns exchanged a few kicks in the third and the crowd let the fighters have it at the end of another round on the card that suffered from a deficiency of sustained action. Burns appeared to hurt his left shoulder on a failed takedown attempt and couldn’t muster much offense, one reason for the methodical pace.

Muhammad was booed when he was announced as the 50-45, 49-46, 49-46 winner and then told the crowd, “New Jersey, you suck.”

The win stamped Muhammad — who took the fight on just over two-weeks' notice and extended his winning streak to five and his unbeaten streak to 10 straight fights — as a top contender for a title shot against Leon Edwards.

It’s no surprise Burns (22-6) ended the bout in rough physical shape. The Brazilian already won a fight at UFC 283 in January and he retired Jorge Masvidal in a win at UFC 287 on April 8. The fight was rushed onto the card after problems with the original co-main event between Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush pushed the fight to next month.

If the New York Mets need to add some punch in the lineup, maybe they can find out if Matt Frevola is available. A diehard Mets fan who threw the first pitch at a game last month, Frevola had Mets owner Steve Cohen -- who was soundly booed when shown on the big screen -- watching cageside for his bout against Drew Dobler.

Frevola added to the Mets theme when he walked out to Timmy Trumpet’s signature song “Narco,” which belonged to injured reliever Edwin Diaz.

The Long Island native had fans singing “Steam-roll-a!” in the short time he was in the cage. Frevola scored a TKO win over Drew Dobler at 4:08 of the first round for his third straight first-round finish.

On the first fight on the main card, Charles Jourdain defeated Kron Graice by unanimous decision in a fight so dull that fans turned on their camera phone lights to entertain themselves.

“Sorry guys, it was not the most exciting fight,” Jourdain said after finishing off the one-dimensional Gracie.

Movsar Evloev defeated Diego Lopes by unanimous decision in a fight Lopes accepted on five-days notice after an injury forced Bryce Mitchell to drop out. Yan Xiaonan clobbered former UFC strawweight champion Jéssica Andrade with a big right and pounded away at her fallen foe for a TKO victory at 2:20 of the first round.

Yan's victory could set her up for a 115-pound championship match against fellow Chinese fighter Zhang Weili.