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More than three years after he decided to depart the sport of MMA, Henry Cejudo will return this weekend and face UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling in the main event of UFC 288 on Saturday night.
Their bantamweight title bout is scheduled to headline a pay-per-view card from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, USA. Those two headliners are just some of the many fighters who will hit the scale on Friday, confirming their weight class just one day before they compete inside the UFC cage.
Cejudo aims for return to throne, Sterling looks for milestone win
Cejudo said goodbye to MMA in 2020 after earning a UFC belt at both flyweight and bantamweight. His last fight saw him defend his 135-pound title for the first time, stopping Dominick Cruz in the second round with strikes. Now years later, he can reclaim that top spot at bantamweight when he takes on current champ Sterling.
But Sterling is a hard out at bantamweight and has yet to lose since claiming gold a few years back. He has beat Petr Yan and TJ Dillashaw in recent title fights, and aims to defend his belt for the third time this weekend. If successful, Sterling will also have attained a milestone 15 wins in the UFC this weekend.
The bout between Cejudo and Sterling is just one of the many matchups taking place at UFC 288. They PPV also includes a five-round bout between ranked welterweights Belal Muhammad and Gilbert Burns. A victory for either fighter will nudge them one step closer to a title opportunity against current divisional champ Leon Edwards. Also, notable strawweight talents Jessica Andrade and Yan Xiaonan will meet as part of the main card.
UFC 288 weigh-in live stream
Nothing can happen on Saturday until the fighters associated with the card make weight. But that will be settled this morning, a day before the fights actually go down.
The weigh-in is scheduled to open at 9 p.m. ET on Friday morning, giving the 26 fighters appearing at UFC 288 a total of two hours to make weight for their matchups on Saturday night.
Check back on this page throughout the morning to keep up on developments from Newark. And if you want, check out the live feed of the weigh-ins below:
Main Card (10 p.m. ET on PPV)
UFC Bantamweight Championship: Aljamain Sterling (134) vs. Henry Cejudo (135)
Welterweight: Belal Muhammad (170) vs. Gilbert Burns (171)
Strawweight: Jessica Andrade (115) vs. Yan Xiaonan (115)
Featherweight: Movsar Evloev (145) vs. Diego Lopes (146)
Featherweight: Kron Gracie (145) vs. Charles Jourdain (145)
Preliminary Card (8 p.m. ET on ESPN)
Lightweight: Drew Dober (155.5) vs. Matt Frevola (155)
Light Heavyweight: Devin Clark (205) vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu (205)
Welterweight: Khaos Williams (169) vs. Rolando Bedoya (170)
Strawweight: Marina Rodriguez (115) vs. Virna Jandiroba (115)
Early Prelims (6 p.m. ET on ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Heavyweight: Parker Porter (249) vs. Braxton Smith (262)
Middleweight: Ikram Aliskerov (186) vs. Phil Hawes (185)
Flyweight: Zhalgas Zhumagulov (125.5) vs. Rafael Estevam**
Middleweight: Joseph Holmes (189)* vs. Claudio Ribeiro (185)
*Holmes missed the middleweight limit by three pounds. The fight will proceed as a catchweight, and Holmes will forfeit 20 percent of his fight purse to Ribeiro.
**Estevam was removed from the card due to weight issues, per an announcement made during the weigh-ins.
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