Henry Cejudo ramps up training for UFC 288 main-event with hard-sparring sessions
Former UFC two-division champion Henry Cejudo has changed gears in regards to his training for his upcoming title fight at UFC 288.
Cejudo recently uploaded a video to his YouTube channel where he shared that he had started hard-sparring in his training camp in order to prepare for his upcoming comeback fight.
Speaking about the training, 'The Messenger' said in the video:
"Practice has been brutal. It's a good welcome back after three years of retirement but the good thing is I've been going about it for a year, really stimulated my body, strengthening my body. But once we started fight camp, which is longer than a typical fight camp, it's been competition time... We've got the perfect team, we've got the perfect synergy to come back and reclaim that title," said Henry Cejudo.
Check out the sparring drills from the 7:45 mark below:
Cejudo has been out of action for nearly three years. His last UFC outing took place at UFC 249 when he successfully defended his bantamweight title against Dominick Cruz. In his post-fight octagon interview that night, Cejudo announced his retirement from the sport.
But the 36-year-old now seems ready for another run in the UFC's 135-pound division.
Henry Cejudo's coach provides an insight into the training sessions ahead of UFC 288
After a three-year hiatus, Henry Cejudo will make a comeback at UFC 288 and headline the event against Aljamain Sterling for the bantamweight title. The fight will take place on May 6 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
In a video uploaded by Cejudo, his head MMA coach Santino DeFranco provided an insight into the training strategy that the Olympic gold medalist was taking for the fight. DeFranco said that the training sessions were focused on Cejudo taking a more aggressive approach in the fight.
"We're working some jiu-jitsu, making sure he's set really in all of the positions that might happen throughout the fight because it's a fight. You don't have any idea what's gonna happen. I mean, somebody could catch somebody's kicks, somebody's on their back, who knows?... We know [Aljamain Sterling] loves a body triangle, so we're going over that... And just making sure he's sharp in all the positions that he doesn't always finds himself in because we want him to be confident enough to grow and be offensive instead of taking a defensive approach to the fight," Santino DeFranco.