Demetrious Johnson boldly claims Aljamain Sterling would’ve ‘1000 percent’ lost to Henry Cejudo under ONE championship rules

Demetrious Johnson believes the ruleset benefited Aljamain Sterling against Henry Cejudo. He claims that the ruleset of ONE Championship benefits Cejudo.

Demetrious Johnson boldly claims Aljamain Sterling would’ve ‘1000 percent’ lost to Henry Cejudo under ONE championship rules

Demetrious Johnson thinks Aljamain Sterling would have lost under ONE Championship rules ( Image credits: L/R- Getty Images )

Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson trained with Henry Cejudo ahead of his bout at UFC 288. Johnson claimed that Aljamain Sterling would have lost against Henry Cejudo in a different ruleset. He argued that the ONE Championship ruleset would have produced a different result.

Many felt that Cejudo deserved to win the fight, including Demetrious Johnson. Johnson said, “Oh, 1,000 percent.” He told MMA Fighting that Cejudo would beat Sterling if they fought at ONE Championship. “It’s smart on Aljo’s part because he knows that Henry doesn’t have the right tools. … But if it’s in ONE Championship when he shot…And I was like, ‘Sh*t, you can’t knee there because it’s not ONE Championship,” said Johnson.

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Johnson continued, “I know he’s the better grappler, but I felt that Henry did enough to win the fight. Going into the fifth round, I had it even – 2-2 – and I felt Henry did enough to become the new champion. And he looked great on a three-year layoff. I know I couldn’t do it…I wouldn’t want to do three years and come back because it’s a lot. I fight better when I’m active.” After three years of inactivity, he praised Cejudo for competing at a high level.

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Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo engaged in an enthralling fight at UFC 287. The two bantamweights headlined the UFC 288 PPV card and displayed a calculated performance. Henry Cejudo came back after a three-year hiatus to reclaim the bantamweight title. The fight went the distance, and Sterling won via split decision on the scorecard.

Related: “Zero chance it did over 200k” – MMA World unite to call out Henry Cejudo’s ‘outright lies’ after claiming 700k PPV buys for UFC 288

Henry Cejudo knew about Aljamain Sterling’s little tricks

Henry Cejudo Herb Dean
Henry Cejudo and Herb Dean (Image via Reddit/ MMA Weekly)

Former champion Henry Cejudo knew about the tricks Aljamain Sterling had up his sleeves. Sterling is an expert at baiting an illegal knee. He would go down on his knees with both his hands on the ground. Under such conditions, the opponent is forbidden from attacking with leg or knee strikes. Cejudo knew Sterling would employ such tactics and warned the referee Herb Dean about the situation.

He released a video on Twitter where he warned referee Herb Dean about potential illegal knee baiting. “I think the biggest thing is that they’ll be seeing him kind of taunt the line a little bit, kind of being in a three-point position,” he said. Dean promised to look out for it but did nothing during the fight.

However, Cejudo could not counter such tactics from Sterling in the fight. Sterling impressed everyone when he took down an Olympic gold medalist wrestler. Both fighters completed 25 minutes inside the octagon, and Sterling retained his title via split decision.

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