Sean O'Malley asked to "stay ready" for Henry Cejudo vs. Aljamain Sterling megafight
It appears as though the long-awaited bantamweight title fight between Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo is close to being officially finalized. Both fighters have announced that UFC 288 on May 6tg is the plan, but that obviously could change.
Cejudo recently uploaded a video to his YouTube channel where he spoke about getting an immediate title shot upon his UFC return. He mentioned that May 6th is a good timeline for him, but he also made a request for current No.1-ranked bantamweight Sean O'Malley:
"Is Aljamain Sterling, is he ready? Does he really want that smoke? Cause quite frankly guys, I really don't think Aljamain Sterling wants that smoke, so at the same time, the only thing that I could say to Sean O'Malley, stay ready, stay prepared."[1:42 - 1:55]
'Triple C' mentioned that he is preparing for Sterling. However, he remains cautiously optimistic until the fight is officially signed off on and announced by the promotion, saying:
"Obviously, I'm gonna be training for Aljamain Sterling. As soon as the fight gets announced. As soon as it's not just verbally said but there's a signature on there, somebody is able to sign and the fight is sealed and everything is good, but at the same time there is that pre-caution that Aljamain may not show up." [1:57 - 2:17]
'Funk Master' documenting his stem cell treatment and then announcing he will be fighting Cejudo does make it seem like he will be healthy in time to defend his title on May 6th.
Check out the full video:
Henry Cejudo wants to make history in the UFC
I'm still down 🤝@alexvolkanovski 🏆🏆🏆+🏆 #C4 https://t.co/89QmEiz5x7
Henry Cejudo is a very ambitious fighter and plans on making history when he returns to the octagon.
During the aforementioned video, 'Triple C' mentioned that the bantamweight championship isn't the only one that he's after. He also has his sights set on the featherweight champion and put Alexander Volkanovski on notice that he intends to become the first three-division champion in the promotion's history:
"Styles make fights and I do believe I'd be extremely problematic for him [Volkanovski] and I do believe that I could stop him. So my end goal is to go up to 145lbs and eventually become the first three-division champ in UFC history." [8:12 - 8:28]
The Olympic gold medalist's aspirations will obviously depend on how he performs in his return. He is coming off a three-year layoff, so it will be interesting to see if ring rust ends up being a factor.