Chael Sonnen believes Henry Cejudo should be the backup for the UFC 292 main event.
On May 6, Aljamain Sterling defended the UFC bantamweight championship for the third time with a split decision win against ‘Triple C.’ It didn’t take long for Sterling to know his next title challenger as Sean O’Malley entered the Octagon for their first faceoff.
Ten days later, Dana White announced Sterling vs. O’Malley would headline UFC 292 on August 19. Shortly after, ‘Funk Master’ claimed he might not be healthy enough for the quick turnaround. The 135-pound king later confirmed he was good to go.
During a recent video on his YouTube channel, Sonnen suggested the UFC should weigh in as the backup for Sterling vs. O’Malley by saying:
“We haven’t seen a main event title fight that publicly, according to their own social media, is more in jeopardy than this one… There’s a good chance the UFC is going to have to respond to that. If they respond, you gotta know Merab [Dvalishvili] is hurt… So, the last man left standing who would all be reasonable for that position is [Henry] Cejudo.”
After losing at UFC 288, Cejudo contemplated retirement before revealing he would return to the Octagon. The UFC president later confirmed that ‘Triple C’ volunteered to step in for an interim title fight against O’Malley if Sterling wasn’t available for August.
Chael Sonnen thinks the UFC won’t have a backup fighter for Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley
Aljamain Sterling and Dana White haven’t been on the same page since the UFC 292 main event announcement. After a back-and-forth argument through press conferences and social media, Sterling confirmed he plans to fight on August 19. With that said, the UFC could be considering a backup fighter for precautionary measures.
During the same YouTube video, Chael Sonnen had this to say about the situation:
“Will they have a backup fighter? They may not. Safer money says they do not. They just don’t. They don’t create that story, they don’t have that involvement, they don’t bring Henry [Cejudo] in in that capacity. That is a safer bet.”
It’ll be intriguing to see what’s next for Henry Cejudo. The former two-division UFC champion recently called out Merab Dvalishvili, who had hand surgery after defeating Petr Yan in March.
