sport news UFC 288 main event: Henry Cejudo's clash with Aljamain Sterling is huge boost ... trends now

Henry Cejudo's three-year absence from the UFC - a mini retirement - has actually seen his stock grow. 

Never given the credit most other two-weight champions enjoyed, he called it a day with the hunger for competition subsiding and his paymasters unwilling to cough up what he felt he deserved. 

In the interim, his coaching prowess and remarkable fight IQ has seen the likes of Jon Jones pick his brains - but that fighting intellect will be put to the test first hand again on Saturday.  

Retirements in MMA are almost never final. The itch comes back and Cejudo has decided to scratch it with a UFC 288 headliner against bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling. 

Smaller weight classes occasionally have issues finding the same level of casual fan support and interest as the heavier fighters. 

And Cejudo adopted a schtick as 'King of Cringe', playing along with a role to make press conferences and interviews awkward in a bid to drive up engagement. 

Chael Sonnen explained last year: 'Henry wanted to go out, he wanted to be known, he wanted to start doing stuff. He was so bad at it at the beginning because he had no level of training or practice and the only time he got to do it is when the live cameras are rolling that it was cringy, and so he admitted it. 

'Now this turned out to be the real brilliance. Nobody ever said out to Henry, 'go out there and do things that make people really awkward. Go out and do things that make Dana White get a bright red face cause he's so uncomfortable with it', like that was never part of the plan that's just what it transitioned to.

'I remember there was still a moment where I saw this cringey, this 'Triple C', all the stuff that the people are online teasing him for. They're waiting in droves, they are chanting his name. 

'They love it, it's an angle, it's a gimmick, it's what expect out of him, and it's more than anybody else in that division at that time was offering.'

It was clever marketing and definitely saw interest in Cejudo rise, but detracted from his elite skills in changing perceptions of him into a caricature. 

A former Olympic gold medal winner, flyweight and then bantamweight UFC champion and slayer of Demetrious Johnson, one of the all-time greats - should have been adored or at least admired more. 

Perhaps in the three years since the 36-year-old was last in action there's more of an appreciation for what he offered the UFC.