This weekend sees mixed martial arts head to Newark, New Jersey for UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo. As its headline indicates, Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo will fight in the main event, disputing the UFC Bantamweight Championship. With this and 12 other bouts to enjoy, expect another action-packed UFC event.
Sterling heads into Saturday night as the defending champion but will have a stiff challenge from an in-form Cejudo. The challenger is on a six-fight win streak and will look to ride that momentum all the way to the title. Sterling is on a run of his own, however, having won eight in a row and will fancy his chances at making that nine.
We break down all the best bets with the latest odds from bookmaker William Hill ahead of the UFC 288 main event on Saturday.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: May 4th, 11:00 P.M. (GMT)
Whenever outright winner odds at the bookies are virtually even, it’s a sign of a good fight to come. In this instance, bookmaker William Hill has Henry Cejudo ever so slightly ahead of Aljamain Sterling at 1.80 compared to 2.00. But can the challenger live up to these flattering odds?
If he does, the odds say it will be on the judges’ scorecards. A Cejudo decision is the most likely outcome at 3.10 with a Sterling decision right behind it at 3.50. Next, odds for this fight finishing read 4.20 for a Cejudo knockout and 4.50 for a Sterling submission, with the alternate methods paying long odds for each fighter.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: May 4th, 11:00 P.M. (GMT)
Both fighters head into this clash with strong records. Cejudo is 10-2 in the UFC and 16-2-0 overall in his career, while Sterling is 14-3 in this promotion and 22-3-0 in his career. However, it’s Sterling who has had the tougher fights recently, with his last four wins coming over Cory Sandhagen, Petr Yan twice, and T.J. Dillashaw. Combine this with Sterling’s reach advantage, comparative youth and experience as an MMA fighter, and Sterling is beginning to look like a strong bet here.
In terms of matching up, Sterling will be looking for takedowns, while Cejudo will be more interested in doing damage with strikes. Provided that Sterling can use his reach to not receive too many significant strikes from Cejudo, we back him to find a takedown at some stage and extract a submission. He did it to Cory Sandhagen and now for a 4.50 return, we say he’ll do it against Cejudo too.
