Hot take: Henry Cejudo will beat Aljamain Sterling and expose the BW division for what it is.

[DOMMA]

Sterling is better standing. Henry is better on the ground but I do not believe he can submit Sterling or hold him down. Sterling by UD.

 

[UFCFantasyMVP]

I think you're wildly underrating Sterling. He's one of the best BJJ players in MMA and his wrestling is considerably better than his early days in the UFC.

Btw I am cheering for Cejudo because i can't stand Sterling. But I think it's not gonna go well for Henry.

I need a ride to Spirit Mountain Casino for that fight. Not Ilani or Chinook Winds, because they charge to watch. I literally wanna put $777 on Cejudo. I'LL give you $30 for gas and if Cejudo wins, I'll buy you dinner. It would be my first casino sport bet. And probably my biggest bet in the next couple years. 'Cause I have super confidence in Cejudo in this as well and I wanna take more chances in life. I live in Oregon City. lol. Otherwise, I'll just look on Craigslist...

Haha. I'm not holding my breath, but if this guy lives in Portland, we live pretty close. And I would love to meet someone on here. (Spirit Mountain isn't easy to get to though, 'cause it's pretty far) And have another person to talk MMA with. And this fight is a fight I said a long time ago I wanted to put serious money on. I love Sterling, but his striking is far inferior to Henry's and it's gonna show.

 

[Banana Tree's Nemesis]

Yan is a pure striker with little to know grappling experience

he got battered and outstruck by number 13 Sean O'Malley

Yan is an average fighter

Sandhagen who while is a solid fighter is by no means championship material

His fight with Marlon "BW Masvidal" Vera was very sloppy and he took him to a split decision.

A swing and a heavy miss.

But yes. Henry should be the favorite. The reasoning is all over the place though.

 

[StonedLemur]

I think you're wildly underrating Sterling. He's one of the best BJJ players in MMA and his wrestling is considerably better than his early days in the UFC.

Btw I am cheering for Cejudo because i can't stand Sterling. But I think it's not gonna go well for Henry.

You say he's underrating Sterling, but in your next sentence you wildly overrate him by saying he's one of the best BJJ players in all of MMA sir.

Aljo is very good, but one of the best BJJ players in all of MMA?
Not sure I can agree with that.

 

[daltonames]

Will be good to have legitimate world champs like Jones, Cejudo and Conor by the end of 2023.

We'll be lucky if we get 1 title defense a year between the 3 of them. Maybe Conor, Cejduo and Jones can do a tag team boxing match against Tyson Fury.

 

[StonedLemur]

If he comes into the same form he did KO'ing Cruz I think Cejudo should be the favourite. Cruz has a very rangy striking style and Cejudo cut that range and made it his type of striking match. Aljo is another man who sucks in the pocket but fights best at range.
Aljo on paper shouldn't be able to wrestle Cejudo for long enough to win rounds.
Cejudo also has a clear cardio advantage.

Issue is Aljo is massive and Cejudo is tiny plus a long layoff with a guy who was clearly eating good is hard to have confidence in.
I'm picking Cejudo but seeing Aljo use his awkward kicks and size to bully in the clinch for a decision win wouldn't shock me.

Unbiased, and balanced take sir.
I dig it.

 

[ineverpost]

Oh look another "this guy is actually a can because he's going to lose a fight" thread. Yawwwn

 

[Banana Tree's Nemesis]

Aljo is very good, but one of the best BJJ players in all of MMA?
Not sure I can agree with that.

Can depend on the definition of that I suppose.
He did get to the BW title by submitting Cory and then proceeded to controlling Petr's back and dominating TJ on the ground.
All are at least average grapplers at the highest level of the sport.
And if you look at the current reigning champions the only other guys with real submission grappling are Islam, Jon and Moreno.
The former two being much more wrestlers than a BJJ players and the latter being able to outstrike anyone in his division anyways and therefore not really exclusively a BJJ style fighter.
So from the active guys, he's most certainly one of the best.

 

[fortheo]

His most impressive win is Sandhagen who while is a solid fighter is by no means championship material or the same caliber of fighter that Cejudo is. Sandhagen's competition is mostly consisting of old men or washed up fighters like TJ, Edgar and post Cejudo Marlon Moraes. His fight with Marlon "BW Masvidal" Vera was very sloppy and he took him to a split decision. Not a good look

You had me until there

 

[IloveTHIS]

I truly think Cejudo is one of the best ever...despite his extremely short record. if he comes back and claps Aljamain and maybe Volk too, he will go down as the GOAT of LW and below

 

[StonedLemur]

Can depend on the definition of that I suppose.
He did get to the BW title by submitting Cory and then proceeded to controlling Petr's back and dominating TJ on the ground.
All are at least average grapplers at the highest level of the sport.
And if you look at the current reigning champions the only other guys with real submission grappling are Islam, Jon and Moreno.
The former two being much more wrestlers than a BJJ players and the latter being able to outstrike anyone in his division anyways and therefore not really exclusively a BJJ style fighter.
So from the active guys, he's most certainly one of the best.

When someone says MMA I see it as MMA as whole, not just UFC tbf.
He controlled TJ that had one arm, Petr didn't seem to have a clue how to get out of the body triangle.

Sandhagen is not known to be a great grappler, especially when Aljo beat him in 60 seconds.

Jon has a complete package of grappling, but if we're talking about BJJ alone there's a ton of guys in the world of MMA that have great BJJ games.

Aljo makes his game work in MMA, but I highly doubt he'd take a tournament at his weight class sir.

 

[Pilo]

So it's something I've known for a while and even with Cejudo's inactivity, I still think he's a way better fighter than Aljamain Sterling in all aspects. Bantamweight despite being hailed as one of the best weight classes has always seemed massively overrated to me skill wise and some of the top echelon seems flat out stinky. If anything it's regressed in recent years and Aljo as a dominant champion is proof of that. This is a guy who got put on a stretched by Marlon Moraes who Cejudo took the soul of and while MMAth means very little it's something that should be stated.

Sterling struggles against people who have good fundamental grappling. The Pedro Munhoz fight was very smelly because he knew he couldn't enforce any offensive grappling and had to resort to a very ugly looking standup fight which he almost
lost.

Yan is a pure striker with little to know grappling experience and took him to a split decision. Yan has also been on the slide looking like the Yoel Romero of BW, he got battered and outstruck by number 13 Sean O'Malley and dominated by Merab "I do nothing but fail takedowns" Dvlashvilli. I also suspect Yan is an average fighter who is going to go on an extended slide so that's not an age I suspect will age well at all

The TJ Dillashaw fight, I don't really respect him for. TJ was an old unjuiced shell of himself who shouldn't have even been there and had 1 arm. He lasted until the second round against Aljo. What do you think he can do offensively to an Olympic level wrestler? Cejudo destroyed him in 10 seconds way closer to his prime.

His most impressive win is Sandhagen who while is a solid fighter is by no means championship material or the same caliber of fighter that Cejudo is. Sandhagen's competition is mostly consisting of old men or washed up fighters like TJ, Edgar and post Cejudo Marlon Moraes. His fight with Marlon "BW Masvidal" Vera was very sloppy and he took him to a split decision. Not a good look

In short I think Sterling is a temporary champion who is fortunate he's in a division where the quality of grapplers is severely lacking. All there has to offer is Umar who hasn't made his way up yet or, Merab (who is rank squatting and wasting time). I feel like the top guys at BW would be exposed in the Featherweight or Lightweight division and Cejudo would have a very easy time with most of them. Even DJ (who Sterling was studying intently in preparation for the Cejudo matchup) says Cejudo would beat Aljo. It's probably one of my most confident picks since Edwards vs Usman 2 and that worked in my favor. I just don't see the talent everyone keeps raving about and I think even an inactive Cejudo is heads and shoulders above the rest of the division.

Man, it's heart-breaking to disagree so badly with someone with such an awesome av (on certain points, that is...not on the prediction).

But to say that bantamweight's talent pool is massively overrated skillwise, I just don't know what to make of that.

Maybe you meant that all the top guys there are just so incredibly good and well-rounded that we have come to a point where very few actually stand out in one specific department. That's especially true in the defensive grappling department. Everybody has extremely good takedown defense with all sorts of sweeps to get back up, with the gas tank to consistently defend for many rounds. There are no standout submission artists, but you see plenty of finishes at that weight class, including submissions.

The Aljo "title reign" isn't a sign of anything, man. Look at the circumstances behind each individual win, and you'll have your explanation...a DQ, a questionable decision, and a severely injured opponent. The division has been moving fast lately, but that's because the UFC isn't doing what it has been doing at 155, that is implementing an almost incestuous rotation of matchups among the top 5 guys and not providing opportunities to outsiders of that circle to enter it.

And to summarize Merab's game as "I do nothing but fail takedowns" is just a textbook demonstration of bad faith. You're making this sound like he's Nik Lentz in that fight where he did nothing but go for his foes' leg, and clinch him up against the cage en route to a decision. The guy mixed up a fuck ton of bombs he threw with a truckload of takedown attempts with a pace that you rarely see in this sport. He took pages out of his team mate's (Aljo's) playbook from his two fights with Yan, throwing an overwhelming volume of bombs (punches AND kicks) to nullify Yan's ability to get loose (he's a slow starter) but unlike Aljo, he maintained that pace for 5 rounds, AND he threatened Yan constantly with these takedown attempts, managing to take Yan's back when he scored one, just like Aljo did in the second Yan fight. It won him the fight. It wasn't exactly fireworks, but that pace was beyond ridiculous. It was INSANE.

The Cejudo fight will be great. I was bummed out when he left, and I think he is one of the greats. I hope he wins, but he'll have plenty of very interesting fights ahead of him after that, win or lose. And competitive ones too. I wouldn't necessarily pick Cejudo to win against Merab at this point, to be honest.

 

[fortheo]

Unbiased, and balanced take sir.
I dig it.

The problem with it is that, under that logic, it puts Aljo in a lose lose situation. It suggests that if Aljo wins, it must be because Cejudo lost a step and that it couldn't be because aljo is a weight class bigger and the better fighter.

 

[The_Demon_In_Me]

Cejudo hasn't fought for 3 years, Aljo has been active and he's in his prime...

In stricking, Cejudo is more explosive than Aljo, in wrestling obviously Cejudo is better than Aljo, in grappling Aljo is better than Cejudo... but the manly point is Aljo cuts more weight than Cejudo a recovers more weight than Aljo's rivals.....

I dunno if Cejudo will dominate someone who is much bigger and heavier than him...

Cejudo is really good as a coach, but the years he was off could affect his comeback

 

[ThierryAlvarez]

Cejudo is an incredible talent with insanely high fight IQ. Yes, he will beat Sterling. I won't be surprised if he makes it look easy

 

[StonedLemur]

The problem with it is that, under that logic, it puts Aljo in a lose lose situation. It suggests that if Aljo wins, it must be because Cejudo lost a step and that it couldn't be because aljo is a weight class bigger and the better fighter.

Aljo is in a weird position right now either way to be honest sir.
A lot of people still hate the way he won that title, and now people are saying Yan was never that good so of course that falls on Aljos win over him.

I see what you're saying though, ans you're not wrong, but I think if Aljo beat King Kong at this point some people will disregard him.

I believe if he beats Cejudo that goes a long way to proving his place at the top of the heap.
If he loses....well he loses and people will disregard him anyway.

I think this will be a great fight myself so I can only wait and see who comes out on top.
I personally think if Cejudo wins, the fight between him and Merab will be nuts so that's the outcome I want, but to completely dismiss Aljo is just dumb.

I can't stand him myself but you can't deny the young mans talent.

 

[fortheo]

Aljo is in a weird position right now either way to be honest sir.
A lot of people still hate the way he won that title, and now people are saying Yan was never that good so of course that falls on Aljos win over him.

I see what you're saying though, ans you're not wrong, but I think if Aljo beat King Kong at this point some people will disregard him.

I believe if he beats Cejudo that goes a long way to proving his place at the top of the heap.
If he loses....well he loses and people will disregard him anyway.

I think this will be a great fight myself so I can only wait and see who comes out on top.
I personally think if Cejudo wins, the fight between him and Merab will be nuts so that's the outcome I want, but to completely dismiss Aljo is just dumb.

I can't stand him myself but you can't deny the young mans talent.

Most wins in ufc BW history, most ranked wins too. People just gonna hate because he tried his hand at acting for a night <45>

 

[StonedLemur]

Most wins at ufc BW history, most ranked wins too. People just gonna hate because he tried his hand at acting for a night <45>

Im gonna be honest with you sir, I was a huge fan until that acting performance.
I had people watching that to see how good he is, so it hurts me to hate him lol.

 

[BowserJr]

All fighters and divisions suck. Everyone needs to be undefeated to prove otherwise

 

[chiefwiggum]

Henry’s 36 and spent most of his career at 125. and has been out for several years. He’s pretty much an old tiny karate guy now.