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ESPN Staff Writer- Marc Raimondi's first year covering the Falcons was 2024, but it wasn't his first year at ESPN. He joined the company in 2019 and was a top combat sports reporter. He also covered professional wrestling and wrote the book "Say Hello to the Bad Guys: How Pro Wrestling's New World Order Changed America," which was published by Simon & Schuster in 2025. Raimondi also worked for the New York Post and Newsday, beginning in 2009, covering high school and college sports, plus the NFL, NFL, MLB and NHL.
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ESPN Staff Writer- Brett Okamoto has reported on mixed martial arts and boxing at ESPN since 2010. He has covered all of the biggest events in combat sports during that time, including in-depth interviews and features with names such as Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Georges St-Pierre. He was also a producer on the 30 for 30 film: "Chuck and Tito," which looked back at the careers and rivalry of Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He lives in Las Vegas, and is an avid, below-average golfer in his spare time.
NEWARK, N.J. -- After a three-year retirement, Henry Cejudo looked to reclaim a title he'd never lost in the Octagon. At UFC 288, Aljamain Sterling made sure he wouldn't get his hands on the gold.
Sterling retained his bantamweight title on Saturday by split decision over Cejudo, as two judges scored the fight 48-47 for the champion. The third judge scored the fight 48-47 for Cejudo.
Sterling (23-3) has now won nine straight fights. The native of Long Island, New York, has three successful title defenses at bantamweight under his belt, after winning the title via disqualification from Petr Yan at UFC 259 in March 2021. Sterling, 33, now has the most wins in UFC bantamweight history with 14 and the longest active winning streak with nine.
Want more from UFC 288? Brett Okamoto and Marc Raimondi recapped all the action: