Henry Cejudo’s coach claims UFC 288 did insane pay-per-view numbers: “They need to be thanking us!”

According to Eric Albarracin, Henry Cejudo’s return did well on pay-per-view.

‘Triple C’ returned to the octagon earlier this month against Aljamain Sterling. The bout was Cejudo’s first in three years, having been out of action since May 2020 knockout victory over Dominick Cruz. Sadly for the former champion, his return didn’t go as well as he’d hoped.

In the UFC 288 main event, ‘The Funk Master’ scored his third title defense by split decision. Following the defeat, Cejudo admitted that he wasn’t sure what he would do next. The former duel-weight champion planned to challenge Alexander Volkanovski with a win but has since shifted his focus to callout Merab Dvalishvili.

While Henry Cejudo did come up short in the main event, his coach, Eric Albarracin, has revealed that the former champion did well at the box office. On The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, ‘The Captain’ discussed the event. There, he alleged that UFC 288 did over 700,000 pay-per-view buys.

It’s worth noting that prior to his retirement, Cejudo barely reached a fraction of those numbers on pay-per-view. However, according to Albarracin, the former bantamweight champion seemingly earned a massive fanbase in his time away.

Image Credit: @UFC/Twitter

Eric Albarracin discusses UFC 288 pay-per-view buyrate

“They’re cursing at my long islanders? I’m from New York. You know why they’re booing you? Because they know you lost. Now you’re trying to benefit off the cringe? Are you serious?” Eric Albarracin stated on The MMA Hour alongside Ariel Helwani. “Do you know how many pay-per-views he got? 700,000. They need to be thanking us, [Aljamain Sterling] never even got 200,000 on a pay-per-view. This one was 700,000.”

He continued,  “[700,000 buys on] ESPN Plus, which was more than double anything that he’s got.”

What do you make of this news? Do you believe UFC 288 did 700,000 pay-per-view buys? Sound off in the comment section below PENN Nation!