UFC 288 will feature Aljamain Sterling defending his bantamweight title against Henry Cejudo, with Jon Anik, Joe Rogan, and Daniel Cormier calling the fights and Megan Olivi as in-house reporter.
The broadcast team for UFC 288 is set to be a familiar crew as the promotion returns to New Jersey on May 6 with a card headlined by bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling defending his title against Henry Cejudo. Play-by-play commentator Jon Anik will call the fights alongside Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier on pay-per-view, with the main card kicking off at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ pay-per-view. Megan Olivi will serve as the in-house reporter for the card. The UFC confirmed the broadcast team for the event.
This Saturday’s event marks the first promotion in New Jersey in almost four years, after Colby Covington headlined a UFC Fight Night card against Robbie Lawler back in 2019. The card will take place at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. New Jersey used to be a regular East Coast home for the UFC for numerous pay-per-view events, but fewer cards have been held there in recent years after New York finally sanctioned MMA in 2016.
The Newark card features Cejudo making his return from retirement as he seeks to win back the belt he relinquished in 2020 when he called it a career following a win over Dominick Cruz. Meanwhile, Sterling seeks the third defense of his 135-pound title after earning previous wins over Petr Yan and T.J. Dillashaw. The co-main event sees Gilbert Burns and Belal Muhammad clash in a five-round fight after both welterweights accepted the matchup on short notice. Originally, ex-UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira was scheduled to face Beneil Dariush in a potential No. 1 contender’s fight, but the Brazilian suffered a rib injury that prevented him from competing in May. Now, Burns and Muhammad face off with the winner potentially getting in line for a title shot of their own.