Henry Cejudo makes his long-awaited return to the Octagon this weekend, challenging Aljamain Sterling for the bantamweight title in the main event of UFC 288.

American Cejudo held the belt alongside the flyweight title, before vacating them one at a time and retiring from fighting in 2020. Now, however, the Olympic gold-medalist wrestler is back, bidding to hand Sterling a first loss in six years.

Sterling has won eight straight fights, with successful title defences against Petr Yan and TJ Dillashaw in his last two bouts, and he will look to make Cejudo’s return an unhappy one.

Will Cejudo’s pedigree or Sterling’s form win out?

Here’s all you need to know.

When is it?

UFC 288 will take place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday 6 May.

The early prelims will begin at 11pm BST (3pm PT, 5pm CT, 6pm ET), with the prelims following at 1am BST on Sunday 7 May (5pm PT, 7pm CT, 8pm ET on Saturday). The main card is then scheduled for 3am BST on Sunday (7pm PT, 9pm CT, 10pm ET on Saturday).

How can I watch it?

The card will air live on BT Sport in the UK, with the broadcaster’s app and website also streaming the fights.

In the US, ESPN+ will stream the action live, as will the UFC’s Fight Pass.

Odds

Sterling – 19/20

Cejudo – 5/6

Full odds via Betway.

Full card (subject to change)

Main card

Aljamain Sterling (C) vs Henry Cejudo (bantamweight title)

Gilbert Burns vs Belal Muhammad (welterweight)

Jessica Andrade vs Yan Xiaonan (women’s strawweight)

Movsar Evloev vs Bryce Mitchell (featherweight)

Kron Gracie vs Charles Jourdain (featherweight)

Prelims

Drew Dober vs Matt Frevola (lightweight)

Kennedy Nzechukwu vs Devin Clark (light-heavyweight)

Khaos Williams vs Rolando Bedoya (welterweight)

Marina Rodriguez vs Virna Jandiroba (women’s strawweight)

Early prelims

Braxton Smith vs Parker Porter (heavyweight)

Phil Hawes vs Ikram Aliskerov (middleweight)

Rafael Estevam vs Zhalgas Zhumagulov (flyweight)

Joseph Holmes vs Claudio Ribeiro (middleweight)

Daniel Santos vs Johnny Munoz (bantamweight)

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