Fights on Tap: Sterling vs. Cejudo among 6 UFC bouts announced

Aljamain Sterling after UFC 280 in Oct. 2022. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Check out all the fights announced over the past week in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

We have a big pay-per-view event on Saturday. UFC 286 features the trilogy between welterweights Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman in the headliner, while a potential No. 1 contender at lightweight in Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev goes down in the co-headliner. But before we can get to that event, let’s take a look at what we have ahead of us on the upcoming schedule.

The UFC either announced or finalized six fights this week, and the reigning bantamweight champion has his next defense set.

Contracts are officially signed for Aljamain Sterling vs. Henry Cejudo! The much-anticipated bantamweight championship fight is headlining UFC 288, the upcoming pay-per-view event scheduled for May 6 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Following his second-round TKO of T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 280 this past October, Sterling pivoted to Cejudo, who was expected to return to competition after a nearly three-year retirement. However, the fight would get postponed, as the ‘Funk Master’ underwent stem cell treatment to help with a bicep injury. Now recovered, Sterling has confirmed his next defense against Cejudo. ’Triple C’ has not fought since defeating Dominick Cruz by second-round TKO at UFC 249.

UFC 286 — March 18

Lerone Murphy vs. Gabriel Santos — featherweight (First rep. by Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Nederland)

UFC San Antonio — March 25

Tamires Vidal vs. Hailey Cowan — women’s bantamweight (First rep. by Nolan King of MMA Junkie)

UFC 288 — May 6

Kron Gracie vs. Charles Jourdain — featherweight

Nate Maness vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov — flyweight

Aljamain Sterling vs. Henry Cejudo — bantamweight (First rep. by Sterling on The Weekly Scraps podcast)

UFC Fight Night — June 3

Mayra Bueno Silva vs. Miesha Tate — women’s bantamweight (First rep. by Dama de Ferro MMA)

Announced Bellator fights:

Bellator 295 — April 22

Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Ray Borg — flyweight (First rep. by Brett Okamoto of ESPN and later confirmed by Drake Riggs of MMA Mania)

Announced Professional Fighters League (PFL) fights:

PFL Newcastle — March 25

Dakota Ditcheva vs. Malin Hermansson — women’s flyweight

PFL 3 (2023 Regular Season) — April 14

Oliveira Aubin-Mercier vs. Shane Burgos — lightweight

Sadibou Sy vs. Jarrah Al Silwai — welterweight

Natan Schulte vs. Stevie Ray — lightweight

Raush Manfio vs. Alexander Martinez — lightweight

Shane Mitchell vs. TBA — welterweight

Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov vs. Ahmed Amir — lightweight

Clay Collard vs. Yamato Nishikawa — lightweight

Magomed Magomedkerimov vs. Don Madge — welterweight

Carlos Leal vs. David Zawada — welterweight

Magomed Umalatov vs. Dilano Taylor — welterweight

Announced Cage Warriors fights:

Cage Warriors 151 — March 24

Agy Sardari vs. Samuel Blasco — lightweight

Cage Warriors 153 — April 29

Taka Mhandu vs. Benoit Blanc — bantamweight

Cage Warriors 154 — May 6

Dylan Hazan vs. Caolan Loughran — bantamweight

Leon Aliu vs. Darren Stewart — middleweight

Announced Invicta FC fights:

Invicta FC 52 — March 15

Calie Cutler vs. Mayra Cantuária — women’s bantamweight

Diana Sanchez vs. Kendra McIntyre — women’s catchweight (120 lbs.)

Announced KSW fights:

KSW 80 — March 17

Wojciech Kazieczko vs. Danu Tarchila — featherweight

Kamil Szkaradek vs. Przemysław Górny — bantamweight

Michał Michalski vs. Giorgi Kvelidze — middleweight

Emilia Czerwińska vs. Yasmin Guimarães — women’s flyweight

KSW 81 — April 22

Marcin Krakowiak vs. Henry Fadipe — middleweight

KSW 83 — June 3

Mariusz Pudzianowski vs. Artur Szpilka — heavyweight

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