Henry Cejudo wanted to "rip Aljamain Sterling's face off" in awkward encounter

04 May 2023 , 16:44

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Henry Cejudo wanted to "rip Aljamain Sterling's face off" in awkward encounter

Henry Cejudo has admitted he was left angered by his awkward hotel face-off with Aljamain Sterling as the pair arrived at their Newark fight hotel this week.

The legendary former two-weight champion returns in an effort to reclaim his bantamweight title after three years of retirement this weekend, facing off with current title holder Sterling. The pair don't share a particularly heated rivalry, but they had gone back-and-forth in a virtual face-to-face ahead of their first meeting as opponents in New Jersey, which was a much friendlier affair.

Sterling and Cejudo were in the lobby of their hotel in New Jersey on Tuesday when the pair ran into one another, with the former champion claiming that his rival was attempting to "butter him up". They shook hands for an awkwardly long period of time, exchanging pleasantries about fight camp.

And speaking at yesterday's media day, Cejudo told Mirror Fighting and other outlets: "You know what? He got me. I'm kind of p***ed at myself afterwards because I'm like 'this dude was trying to butter me up and I don't like it, this is personal. Aljamain, you can't do that dude.

"You can't be like 'well, you know, I hope all is well Inshallah,' I just think he wants to make it fun and that stuff doesn't work with me. But he did butter me up because I was like 'okay all the best,' but in reality I wanted to tear his face off, I don't like it, it is personal, he can buy me a beer after I beat him and that's that."

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Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo had an awkward encounter at the fighter hotel ahead of UFC 288 (TheMacLife/Youtube)

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Sterling, for his part, laughed off Cejudo's anger at the situation, noting that he should have shown such energy when they were head-to-head. He believes that it was the Olympic gold medalist's 'social awkwardness' that caused the strange interaction, but insists there is nothing personal between the pair.

"I think he's a cringey guy and he's just very socially awkward," Sterling added later in the day. "Other than that as a competitor I respect him and what he brings to the table. Him talking about he wants to 'rip my face off', if you wanted to rip my face off you would have shown a little bit of different energy.

"You were unsure of yourself and you're going to be unsure of yourself in that octagon on Saturday night. Either way, he's just a strange cat, so I'm not looking past him but I think he might be underestimating me. If he does then that's going to be his shortcoming on May 6."

Donagh Corby