Video: Aljamain Sterling nearly scuffles with Team Cejudo following official weigh ins | UFC 288

Aljamain Sterling has had enough of Henry Cejudo’s pesky teammates and it nearly boiled over following Friday’s official UFC 288 weigh ins (results HERE). “Funk Master” will defend his UFC bantamweight title against Cejudo tomorrow night (Sat., May 6, 2023) at UFC 288 live on ESPN+ PPV from Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

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BLOCKBUSTER BANTAMWEIGHT BATTLE! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to Newark, N.J., for the first time in more than three years on Sat., May 6, 2023, with a blockbuster Bantamweight collision inside Prudential Center that will see Aljamain Sterling attempt another successful title defense against returning two-division titleholder and former gold medal-winning Olympic wrestler, Henry Cejudo. In UFC 288’s last-minute pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event, former Welterweight title challenger, Gilbert Burns, locks horns with No. 4-seeded contender, Belal Muhammad, in a five-round, 170-pound No. 1 contender eliminator match.

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While Sterling and Cejudo have never competed against one another before the bad blood between the two fighters is palpable. They’ve met face-to-face at the fighter’s hotel, shared personal and cringy-worthy trash talk during Thursday’s pre-fight press conference (watch HERE), and are now looking to destroy each other this weekend at UFC 288.

Throughout fight week Cejudo and his team have busted on “Funk Master” about making weight for their 135-pound title fight. Sterling has never missed weight before, but it was a decent attempt by Cejudo to get under the champion’s skin and giving him a little something extra to think about. Sterling may say he wasn’t bothered, but Cejudo’s team has been relentless.

On Friday, Cejudo’s team once again heckled Sterling as he tipped the scale for official weigh ins. They started to chant “And new” after “Funk Master” successfully hit the bantamweight benchmark. Check it out below:

Following UFC 288’s official weigh ins, Sterling ran into Cejudo’s team backstage and let them know how he felt about their extracurricular taunting. If other team members weren’t there to hold Sterling back the champion seemed angry enough to let his hands fly. Check out the near-altercation below:

“Have some respect for the sport,” Sterling yelled. “Let Henry do his f—king talking. You guys have some f—king respect. Simple as that. I don’t care. If we want to have beef let us have beef because you guys don’t get slapped or f—king punched in the face.”

Sterling posted to social media following the incident as well.

“The disrespect was so unprofessional. I wanted to slap the shit out of all of them but I know I can’t do stuff like that,” wrote the champion.

What say you, Maniacs? Who benefits from this pre-fight altercation? Cejudo or Sterling?

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 288 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 288: “Sterling vs. Cejudo” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 288 fight card and ESPN+ lineup click here.