Henry Cejudo expects UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling to have his way with Sean O’Malley.
Sterling (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) defends his title against O’Malley (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) in the UFC 292 headliner Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston.
Cejudo is coming off a split decision loss to Sterling at UFC 288, where he was taken down four times. So if Sterling was able to take down the Olympic gold medalist wrestler, Cejudo doesn’t see how O’Malley could stop him.
“I do believe Aljamain Sterling’s gonna press him, get him against the cage,” Cejudo said on “Smack Talk With Sandhu.” “If he’s able to take me down, he could take any of those guys down. So Sean’s gonna be in trouble. Sean just relies on his striking. I’m sure he works on the jiu-jitsu, but in MMA it’s just different. I do believe that Sterling’s gonna get on top of him and pretty much just hurt him.”
Although Cejudo lost to Sterling, he was able to land three takedowns of his own. “Triple C” closed out the fight strong in Round 5 but admits the previous rounds were all very close.
“It was control the distance,” Cejudo said of his game plan. “But at the same time, I also knew that if he was gonna be rangy and a little tricky, that I was going to kind of do Mexican style, bring the pressure, but I don’t know. I’m not too happy about my performance.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.
Henry Cejudo: Sean O’Malley just relies on striking, will be ‘in trouble’ vs. Aljamain Sterling
