Aljamain Sterling is hopping mad after Henry Cejudo pulls out of Chito Veta fight at UFC 292, while Kevin Holland wants to complete twice in July. All that and more — it’s your Sunday MMA Quick Hits!
Kevin Holland offers to fight Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 290, still compete on UFC 291
UFC welterweight Kevin Holland wants to fight on back-to-back Pay-Per-View cards, both in the month of July.
Holland made the offer after Sean Brady was forced out of his fight with Jack Della Maddalena next week. Holland, who has proven game throughout his career, already has a fight booked against Michael Chiesa on July 30.
ESPN was among those reporting Holland’s offer.
#callbigmouth pic.twitter.com/8Qc9NEY74l
— Kevin Holland (@Trailblaze2top) July 1, 2023
While it may not happen, it’s a ballsy move from Holland, who has turned into a fan favorite over the past couple of years.
Sterling blasts Cejudo for withdrawing from Vera fight
Henry Cejudo was critical of Aljamain Sterling’s own health issues not too long ago, and that has led to a strong rebuke from “The Funkmaster” after Cejudo dropped out of a fight with Chito Vera at UFC 292.
“Henry Cejudo is out of this fight. ‘The savage!’ Remember that? The savage? Texting Dana [White] saying, ‘If that little p*ssy doesn’t want to fight, I’ll take the fight?’ Isn’t it funny how the roles are reversed now and this ‘little savage’ is no longer a savage? Very interesting,” Sterling stated in a video posted to his Youtube channel (h/t MMA Fighting). “For me, I call that being a dirty little weasel. You try to disparage my name in front of the fans and make it seem like I don’t want to fight, whatever, ‘the fight wasn’t that bad of a fight so you should be able to turn around.’ Guys, I’m telling you from experience, from a championship experience, defending multiple times… it’s very, very different getting ready for 25 minutes versus 15 minutes.
“Henry wanted to be this big, bad tough guy and lie to the fans and make it seem like he was in it to win it, yay! But now look. Instead you look like an ass clown trying to pretend you’re something that you’re not. You’re human, bro. I’m human. I at least disclosed up front because I didn’t want to rob the fans of their hard-earned money, because I wanted to check out my injuries, and I fought you with my injuries prior to coming into the octagon! So who is really the savage? Who is really built like that? Because clearly, my man, it ain’t you. Respectfully.”
Cejudo cited an injury to his shoulder in withdrawing from the fight. UFC 292 is headlined by Sterling putting his bantamweight title on the line against Sean O’Malley. It’s a quick turnaround for the champ; UFC 292 arrives in mid-August, while Sterling defeated Cejudo in May at UFC 288 in Newark, NJ.
Barry Bonds promoted to blue belt in BJJ
Just remember, there’s no drug testing in BJJ.
Barry Bonds, the MLB's all-time home run leader, was promoted to a Brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt 👏
(via evolvetrainingcenter/IG, h/t @marcraimondi)pic.twitter.com/yuQVCi6AZQ
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 30, 2023
Just remember, steriods are legal in BJJ
That’s according to Gordon Ryan anyway. Ryan was challenged by Nicky Rod after Rod picked up a win in a tournament as part of the UFC Fight Pass Invitational this past week. The pair have competed twice before, with Ryan winning both meetings. The challenge came with a rider however: do some drug testing under USADA. Here’s Ryan’s response (h/t MMA Mania):
“First of all, no, because steroids are not illegal in jiu-jitsu,” Ryan said. “And number two, I actually have a contract coming to Nicky Rod from USADA and WADA testing from now until the next ADCC, it will be interesting to see if he’s gonna sign that. I make the rules, I name the time, I name the place, I name the ruleset because I’ve earned that. I can actually win matches. Nicky Rod winning three matches in a row is actually impressive because he’s literally never done it before. If you actually follow statistics, he sucks. If you actually look at his jiu-jitsu during regulation, he literally doesn’t know a single move.”
Dan Hooker says BMF title makes Poirier vs. Gaethje 2 a “silly” fight
Most fight fans are salivating over the thought of Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje meeting for a second time. But New Zealand’s Dan “The Hangman” Hooker believes the inclusion of the “BMF” championship (it will be on the line for the winner of the UFC 291 main event) makes it a “little bit of a silly fight.”
Hooker made the comments on UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya’s Youtube channel.
In short, Hooker questioned what the title actually represented. “That’s why it’s a little bit of a silly fight, you know what I mean?” Hooker said (h/t MMA Junkie). “We’re prizefighters at the end of the day. Nah. What does it actually mean though?”
“Of course I’d take it because there’s money that comes with it, which is the main objective of doing it,” Hooker said. “But having a BMF title and hanging that on my wall and being proud of that is not the same as a world title. I’d probably put it under the bed or something like that.”
Gaethje previously told Cageside Press that the BMF title was the promotion throwing fighters a bone, and included PPV points and potentially other perks — though UFC President Dana White said only that Gaethje and Poirier would be well taken care of at UFC 291.
