A championship matchup awaits for our MMASucka staff picks.
Later tonight, May 6th, sees UFC 288 set to take place from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The event comes as the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to the state for the first time since UFC on ESPN 5 in August of 2019. Tonight’s card will kick off at 6:00pm ET (3:00pm PT) with early preliminary fights on UFC Fight Pass followed by the regular preliminary card at 8:00pm ET (5:00pm PT) on both ESPN and ESPN+. The pay-per-view will begin at 10:00pm ET (7:00pm PT) available to purchase through ESPN+.
Live results from UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo will be available here at MMASucka.
Be sure to recap our picks from Friday’s ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes 3 event in Broomfield, Colorado.
The Fights
Bantamweight gold awaits the victor of tonight’s main event between current divisional champion Aljamain Sterling and returning challenger Henry Cejudo.
Sterling will be looking to secure his third straight defense of the 135-pound title after claiming the belt in controversial fashion over Petr Yan in early 2021. The well-rounded talent out of New York’s Serra-Longo Fight Team and former Cage Fury FC Champion rides an eight-fight win streak with the Ultimate Fighting Championship dating back to April of 2018. Sterling’s opponent, simultaneous two-divisional title holder Cejudo, returns to the octagon after both vacating and retiring the 135-pound championship following his one and only defense over Dominick Cruz. A former Olympic and multi-time Pan American gold medalist in freestyle wrestling, the 36-year-old hopes to make the most of his comeback.
A possible title elimination bout awaits in the co-main event with Belal Muhammad and Gilbert Burns battling in the welterweight division. Former Titan FC Welterweight Champion Muhammad targets a ninth victory in-a-row since April of 2019. Kill Cliff FC’s Burns aims for three-straight in 2023 alone after dominant wins over Neil Magny by submission in January and Jorge Masvidal by unanimous decision just four weeks ago.
Former Women’s Strawweight Champion Jessica Andrade will take on Team Alpha Male’s Yan Xiaonan at 115 pounds on the main card.
Bryce Mitchell and Jonathan Pearce were originally scheduled to face off at featherweight. After suffering an injury three weeks ago, Pearce was replaced by former M-1 Global Bantamweight Champion and currently undefeated Movsar Evloev; a scheduled fight that had once been planned to headline UFC Vegas 64 in November last year. Unfortunately, earlier this week, Mitchell was also forced out after suffering an injury. Evloev will now fight former Lux Fight League Featherweight Champion and 2021 Contender Series notable Diego Lopes.
Opening the pay-per-view sees an additional featherweight matchup between the near-four year return of Brazilian jiu-jitsu great Kron Gracie and former two-divisional TKO Major League MMA Champion Charles Jourdain.
Find out who the MMASucka staff are picking to win from the UFC 288 main card further below.
THE TALKING STOPS TOMORROW 🤬@FunkMasterMMA vs @HenryCejudo for the bantamweight title at #UFC288!!
[ Live on ESPN+ PPV: https://t.co/ZDDxUDJwAA ] pic.twitter.com/488g8PMdEI
— UFC (@ufc) May 5, 2023
2023 Staff Picks
MMASucka staff picks are composed of five promotions: the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Bellator MMA, ONE Championship, the Professional Fighters League (PFL), and Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS). UFC and Bellator events feature picks from only main cards. PFL will feature select fights from the main and preliminary card while DWCS sees all fights counted from the event. ONE Championship returns to picks for the first time since 2020 and will feature only mixed martial arts (MMA) fights selected from cards with a minimum three matchups.
The WINNER of staff picks at the end of 2023, who picked the most victorious fighters, will have a choice between receiving a custom-made championship belt from ProAmBelts or a chain from Championship Chains. Staff picks in 2022 was won by Wesley Riddle with a record of 264-135.
See below for our UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo picks and predictions.
Staff Records after UFC Vegas 72:
1. Tim Wheaton: 89-47
2T. Ben Jamieson: 88-48
2T. Michael DeSantis: 88-48
4. Nate Freeman: 85-51
5. Jeremy Brand: 83-53
6. Frazer Krohn: 84-52
7. Wesley Riddle: 82-54
8. Julio Monteros Jr.: 73-52
9. Brian Knight: 70-42
10. Andrew Benjamin: 69-62
11. Roemello Reyes: 62-34
12. Jack Goodwillie: 64-44
13. Jonathan Andrade: 23-17
14. Brandon Joint: 12-9
15. Andrew Harbaugh: 10-7
16. Joshua Yule: 7-6
*Note – not all staff pick for every event*
*Note – ONE Fight Night 10 picks will be added to the above records NEXT weekend*
Kron Gracie (5-1), +145
vs.
Charles Jourdain (13-6-1), -170
Featherweight Division
– 145 LBS. ~ 65.8 KG. –
Jeremy Brand: Jourdain via Unanimous Decision
Wesley Riddle: Jourdain via Round 3 TKO
Michael DeSantis: Gracie via Round 2 SUB
Andrew Benjamin: Gracie via Round 1 SUB
Frazer Krohn: Jourdain via Unanimous Decision
Nate Freeman: Jourdain via Unanimous Decision
Tim Wheaton: Jourdain via Unanimous Decision
Jack Goodwillie: Jourdain via Round 1 TKO
Ben Jamieson: Jourdain via Round 2 TKO
Jonathan Andrade: Gracie via Round 2 SUB
Staff picking Gracie: 3
Staff picking Jourdain: 7
Movsar Evloev (16-0), -900
vs.
Diego Lopes (21-5), +625
Featherweight Division
– 145 LBS. ~ 65.8 KG. –
Jeremy Brand: Evloev via Round 1 SUB
Wesley Riddle: Evloev via Round 2 SUB
Michael DeSantis: Evloev via Round 3 SUB
Andrew Benjamin: Evloev via Unanimous Decision
Frazer Krohn: Evloev via Unanimous Decision
Nate Freeman: Evloev via Round 2 TKO
Tim Wheaton: Evloev via Unanimous Decision
Jack Goodwillie: Evloev via Round 2 SUB
Ben Jamieson: Evloev via Round 3 SUB
Jonathan Andrade: Evloev via Round 1 SUB
Staff picking Evloev: 10
Staff picking Lopes: 0
Jessica Andrade (24-10), -170
vs.
Xiaonan Yan (16-3), +145
Women’s Strawweight Division
– 115 LBS. ~ 52.2 KG. –
Jeremy Brand: Andrade via Round 3 TKO
Wesley Riddle: Andrade via Split Decision
Michael DeSantis: Andrade via Round 2 TKO
Andrew Benjamin: Andrade via Unanimous Decision
Frazer Krohn: Andrade via Round 2 TKO
Nate Freeman: Andrade via Unanimous Decision
Tim Wheaton: Andrade via Unanimous Decision
Jack Goodwillie: Yan via Unanimous Decision
Ben Jamieson: Andrade via Unanimous Decision
Jonathan Andrade: Andrade via Unanimous Decision
Staff picking Andrade: 9
Staff picking Yan: 1
Belal Muhammad (22-3), +120
vs.
Gilbert Burns (22-5), -140
Welterweight Division
– Co-Main Event –
– 170 LBS. ~ 77.1 KG. –
Jeremy Brand: Burns via Round 2 SUB
Wesley Riddle: Burns via Round 2 TKO
Michael DeSantis: Burns via Unanimous Decision
Andrew Benjamin: Muhammad via Unanimous Decision
Frazer Krohn: Burns via Unanimous Decision
Nate Freeman: Burns via Unanimous Decision
Tim Wheaton: Burns via Round 3 TKO
Jack Goodwillie: Muhammad via Unanimous Decision
Ben Jamieson: Burns via Unanimous Decision
Jonathan Andrade: Burns via Unanimous Decision
Staff picking Muhammad: 2
Staff picking Burns: 8
Aljamain Sterling (22-3), +100
vs.
Henry Cejudo (16-2), -120
Bantamweight Divisional Championship
– Main Event –
– 135 LBS. ~ 61.2 KG. –
Jeremy Brand: Cejudo via Round 2 TKO
Wesley Riddle: Cejudo via Round 4 TKO
Michael DeSantis: Cejudo via Unanimous Decision
Andrew Benjamin: Cejudo via Split Decision
Frazer Krohn: Sterling via Split Decision
Nate Freeman: Cejudo via Split Decision
Tim Wheaton: Cejudo via Unanimous Decision
Jack Goodwillie: Cejudo via Unanimous Decision
Ben Jamieson: Cejudo via Round 5 TKO
Jonathan Andrade: Sterling via Round 3 SUB
Staff picking Sterling: 2
Staff picking Cejudo: 8
