Who’s ready for another fight week full of cringe?
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Flyweight and Bantamweight champion, Henry Cejudo, is still in pursuit of a fourth piece of gold. The Olympic gold medalist wrestler will try and rebound for only the third time in his 19-fight career (16-3) when he faces Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298 this weekend (Sat., Feb. 17, 2024).
Cejudo, 37, has made headlines for the wrong reasons this week as he seemingly fired his longtime head coach, Eric Albaraccin, in front of cameras on the Countdown episode for UFC 298. Well, it was all a prank from “Triple C” and company. Cejudo posted a video that can be seen in the player above, revealing his shenanigans alongside Albaraccin.
The match up between Cejudo and Dvalishvili is a pivotal one within the Bantamweight division. A win for either man could be more than enough to get them a crack at the winner of the upcoming title tilt between the champion, Sean O’Malley, and challenger, Marlon “Chito” Vera, at UFC 299 next month (March 9, 2024).
While Dvalishvili currently rides a divisional record of nine straight wins, Cejudo last took on “The Machine’s” best friend and teammate, Aljamain Sterling, who was the champion at the time of their UFC 288 title fight in May 2023. Cejudo came up short via a hard-fought split decision.
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 298 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 298: “Volkanovski vs. Topuria” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.