| UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | May 6, 2023 | |||
| Venue | Prudential Center | |||
| City | Newark, New Jersey, United States | |||
| Attendance | 17,559 [1] | |||
| Total gate | $5,182,210.36 [1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on May 6, 2023, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. [2]
The event marked the promotion's ninth visit to Newark and first since UFC on ESPN: Covington vs. Lawler in August 2019. [2]
A UFC Bantamweight Championship bout between current champion Aljamain Sterling and former UFC Flyweight and Bantamweight Champion Henry Cejudo headlined the event. [3]
Zhalgas Zhumagulov and Nate Maness were expected to meet in a flyweight bout at the event. [4] However, Maness pulled out in early April due to injury and was replaced by Rafael Estevam, who was originally scheduled to fight two weeks earlier at UFC Fight Night: Pavlovich vs. Blaydes before an injury also took his opponent. [5] In turn, the bout was scratched the day before the event due to Estevam having weight management issues. [6]
A featherweight bout between Bryce Mitchell and Jonathan Pearce was scheduled for the event. [7] However, Pearce was forced to withdraw from the event due to injury. [8] He was replaced by Movsar Evloev. [9] Mitchell and Evloev were previously scheduled to headline UFC Fight Night: Rodriguez vs. Lemos in November 2022, but Evloev withdrew due to injury. [10] In turn, Mitchell withdrew on the week of the event for an undisclosed shoulder injury and was replaced by promotional newcomer Diego Lopes. [11]
A lightweight bout between former UFC Lightweight Champion Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush was expected to take place as the co-main event. [12] However, Oliveira withdrew due to an undisclosed injury. [13] The fight was later rescheduled and moved to UFC 289. [14]
Former UFC Welterweight Championship challenger Gilbert Burns and Belal Muhammad competed in a five-round welterweight bout in the co-main event. [15]
A bantamweight bout between Daniel Santos and Johnny Muñoz Jr. was expected to take place at the event, [16] but it was scratched after Santos withdrew due to an undisclosed injury. [17]
At the weigh-ins, Joseph Holmes weighed in at 189 pounds, three pounds over the middleweight non-title fight limit. His bout proceeded at catchweight and he was fined 20% of his purse which went to his opponent Claudio Ribeiro. [18]
| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Bantamweight | Aljamain Sterling (c) | def. | Henry Cejudo | Decision (split) (47–48, 48–47, 48–47) | 5 | 5:00 | [lower-alpha 1] |
| Welterweight | Belal Muhammad | def. | Gilbert Burns | Decision (unanimous) (50–45, 49–46, 49–46) | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Yan Xiaonan | def. | Jéssica Andrade | KO (punches) | 1 | 2:20 | |
| Featherweight | Movsar Evloev | def. | Diego Lopes | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Featherweight | Charles Jourdain | def. | Kron Gracie | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN / ESPN+) | |||||||
| Lightweight | Matt Frevola | def. | Drew Dober | TKO (punches) | 1 | 4:08 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Kennedy Nzechukwu | def. | Devin Clark | Technical Submission (guillotine choke) | 2 | 2:28 | |
| Welterweight | Khaos Williams | def. | Rolando Bedoya | Decision (split) (27–30, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Virna Jandiroba | def. | Marina Rodriguez | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Early preliminary card (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass) | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Parker Porter | def. | Braxton Smith | TKO (punches) | 1 | 2:10 | |
| Middleweight | Ikram Aliskerov | def. | Phil Hawes | KO (punches) | 1 | 2:10 | |
| Catchweight (189 lb) | Claudio Ribeiro | def. | Joseph Holmes | TKO (punches) | 2 | 3:21 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses. [20]
On June 27, it was announced by United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) that Braxton Smith was suspended for two years after a urine sample he submitted tested positive for exogenous administration of testosterone and its precursors in two out-of-competition tests on April 19 and May 4, and one in-competition test May 6. [21]
Beneil Khobier Dariush is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of December 5, 2023, he is #7 in the UFC lightweight rankings.
UFC on Fox: Machida vs. Rockhold was a mixed martial arts event held on April 18, 2015, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Bryce Andrew Mitchell is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Featherweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Mitchell appeared in the reality television series The Ultimate Fighter: Undefeated. As of September 5, 2023, he is #10 in the UFC featherweight rankings.
Daniel Alexander Ige is an American professional mixed martial artist who currently competes in the Featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional since 2014, he has also competed for the Legacy Fighting Championship, Pancrase, the RFA, and Titan FC. As of February 13, 2024, he is #12 in the UFC featherweight rankings.
UFC Fight Night: Benavidez vs. Figueiredo was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on February 29, 2020 at Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Virginia, United States.
UFC 248: Adesanya vs. Romero was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on March 7, 2020 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
UFC 249: Ferguson vs. Gaethje was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on May 9, 2020 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. It was originally planned to take place on April 18 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, United States. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was eventually postponed (see section below). On April 21, the UFC confirmed that UFC 249 would be moved to May 9 and take place in Florida.
UFC on ESPN: Holm vs. Aldana was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on October 4, 2020 at the du Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Zhalgas Zhumagulov, is a Kazakh mixed martial artist who previously competed in the Flyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Movsar Magomedovich Evloev is a Russian professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Featherweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional since 2014, he has also competed at M-1 Global, where he is the former bantamweight champion. As of January 23, 2024, he is #5 in the UFC featherweight rankings.
UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on January 16, 2021, at the Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Ilia Topuria is a Georgian and Spanish professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Featherweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the current UFC Featherweight Champion. As of February 20, 2024, he is #5 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings.
UFC Fight Night: Makhachev vs. Green was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on February 26, 2022 at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
UFC Fight Night: Volkov vs. Rozenstruik was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on June 4, 2022, at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
UFC 280: Oliveira vs. Makhachev was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on October 22, 2022, at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
UFC Fight Night: Rodriguez vs. Lemos was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on November 5, 2022 at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
UFC Fight Night: Pavlovich vs. Blaydes was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on April 22, 2023, at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
UFC on ESPN: Vettori vs. Cannonier was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on June 17, 2023 at the UFC Apex facility in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.
UFC 289: Nunes vs. Aldana was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on June 10, 2023, at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
UFC 292: Sterling vs. O'Malley was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on August 19, 2023, at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
