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The quiet sand is affecting the fights themselves.
The absence of a crowd not only affects the way viewers at home experience the presentation of the matches, it also affects the outcome of the fights. Without 15,000 screaming fans, the wrestlers can hear comments from television broadcasters Jon Anik, Joe Rogan, and Daniel Cormier, who are sitting just outside the octagon.
After he won due to the unemployment of a doctor, Vicente Luque said he could hear Rogan calling his opponent to drown him. Carla Esparza said that not only could she listen to Cormier, but she actually took the advice of his comment and changed her tactics. Maybe it worked: he won by divided decision.
When the pay-per-view card began, Cormier and Rogan leaned towards the rarity of the event, which is under scrutiny as the first major sporting event in the US. USA Since the coronavirus pandemic, it closed the main leagues.
“I don’t understand why we are so far from each other, but we are so close right now.” None of this makes sense, ”Rogan said during a conversation with Anik and Cormier as they stood on the same plane before returning to their seats at separate tables.
Anthony Pettis takes a wild third round and the fight.
Donald Cerrone landed a right kick to Anthony Pettis’ face. He knocked Matt Brown unconscious with a similar shot in 2016, but Pettis took it and kept fighting. Pettis had controlled much of Round 3 until then, but Cerrone’s thunderous right kick tipped the momentum in his direction.
For just a moment.
Overall, the judges favored Pettis, awarding him the 29-28 bout on all three cards.
Cerrone and Pettis are close in the last round.
A closer round. Donald Cerrone completed another takedown. Anthony Pettis landed heavy punches on Cerrone’s body: a left hook and a spinning kick.
Somebody has to win.
These two fighters are 0-5 combined in their most recent fights.
Cerrone hurt in Round 1 against Pettis.
Donald Cerrone finished the first round against Anthony Pettis with swelling on his face, but at least the first round ended.
Cerrone, better known as Cowboy, lost his last three bouts and was stopped in the first round of his previous two. He and Pettis competed equally in Round 1, with Cerrone landing a takedown and Pettis connecting with several clean punches.
As heavyweight Aleksei Oleinik advanced in the first round, his cornerbacks yelled at him to hit Fabricio Werdum’s body.
It seemed like a good idea.
Werdum entered the octagon with his shoulders bowed and the fleshy midsection of a middle-aged father: he will be 43 in July. Oleinik had cut some body fat since his last U.F.C. They fought almost four months ago, but he was actually the older of the two fighters for a month.
So, as Oleinik dominated Round 1, midway through the second, the fight looked exactly like a matchup between wrestlers whose combined age was 84. Oleinik’s pace of attack slowed. Werdum managed to hit a few punches, and fought Oleinik on the mat. They traded blows in the final round and the final buzzer sounded without a decisive winner.
In the end, two judges favored Oleinik’s power coup, granting him a divided decision. The victory marked Oleinik’s 59th victory in 73 professional bouts. Werdum, a former U.F.C. heavyweight champion, dropped to 23-8-1.
Strawweight contenders Carla Esparza and Michelle Waterson spent two and a half rounds in a tense, tactical, and highly contested chess match.
Then a fight broke out in the last 30 seconds.
Waterson, a karate expert fighting in Albuquerque, N.M., connected a left spinning kick to Esparza’s body. Esparza absorbed the blow but caught Waterson’s leg and tried to drag her onto the mat, where Esparza’s experience as a college wrestler would give her an advantage. Waterson escaped and Esparza got a left-to-right combination. Esparza kept chasing and Waterson hit her in the face with a left spinning kick.
In a match without a clear winner, opinions between the judges were divided. One scored all three rounds for Esparza, while another awarded Waterson all three. Esparza (16-6) prevailed on the third judge’s card to win his third U.F.C. combat.
Niko Price’s body did not give up, even after nearly three rounds of punches and kicks in the midrange near the center of the octagon. And his fighting spirit was not broken, even as blood flowed from one cut below his right eye and dripped from another cut above him.
But after welterweight Vicente Luque hit a perfectly timed left counterattack at the end of Round 3, Price hit the canvas. When the referee asked for a timeout, the bout doctor looked at Price’s rapidly swollen right eye and the two cuts near him, and advised the referee to stop the fight.
Until then, Luque and Price had engaged in a brutal fight that resembled kickboxing with bare knuckles. Luque landed a large right hand on Price’s lazy left jab. Price connected with a front kick to Luque’s chin. Both fighters landed kicks to each other’s thighs.
Luque seemed exhausted late in the second round, but in the later stages of the third he landed the explosive left hook that ended the fight. The victory was the eighteenth of Luque’s career, while Price falls to 14-4.
The U.F.C. the fighters agreed not to criticize their handling of the coronavirus.
The news that fighter Ronaldo Souza, known as Jacare, and two of his corner men tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday night brought home how difficult it is to keep events safe during this pandemic. But if any other fighters have concerns, they probably won’t know about them, as the U.F.C. he repressed criticism of his health and safety guidelines.
U.F.C. 249 fighters could lose significant amounts of money if they “suggest or communicate” that the event is taking place “without due health, safety or other precautions,” according to a copy of a participation agreement obtained by The New York Times. If the combatants violate this provision, the U.F.C. may “revoke all or part of any cash prize or prize won by the Participant”. These may include “purses, win bonuses, other fight-related bonuses, and event-based merchandise royalties.”
When asked for comment on the contract, a U.F.C. pointed to a Dana White interview with Yahoo Sports, where she said only false statements about U.F.C.health and safety procedures. they would violate the no-disregard clause.
Nothing in the agreement obtained by The Times said that only false statements can be punished.
President Trump congratulated the U.F.C. in the celebration of the event.
A surprise guest appeared early on the broadcast part of the broadcast: President Trump.
A prerecorded video of the president was played between the second and third fights of the night. “I want to congratulate Dana White and the UFC. They will have a great game,” he said, adding: “Take back the sports leagues, let’s play. You do social distancing and whatever else you have to do, but we need sports. We want them to give us back. our sports. “
The friendship between President Trump and White dates back almost 20 years. The first U.F.C. event after White took over the mixed martial arts promotion company, U.F.C. 30 in 2001, it was held at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City. White praised President Trump for supporting the U.F.C. when many casinos and arenas wouldn’t organize their fights, and he returned the favor by speaking in support of then-candidate Trump at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
On Friday afternoon, the U.F.C. Featherweight contender Bryce Mitchell posted a photo of himself involved in a post-weigh-in matchup with his opponent, Charles Rosa.
“It’s time to cook them to the bone,” said the legend.
A day later, Mitchell, a 25-year-old submission specialist, spent three rounds beating Rosa, dragging him onto the canvas, and executing him through an endless series of chokedowns, cranks, and other prey designed to make opponents quit.
Rosa, a 33-year-old jiu-jitsu black belt, thought to challenge Mitchell if his fight turned into a fight, but the third time Mitchell went around Rosa and pulled her arm, it was clear which fighter was more skilled in fighting on the ground.
Mitchell won on all three judges’ cards and is now 13-0 with nine submission wins. Rosa moves to 12-4 overall.
Ryan Spann wobbly ended the fight. Light heavyweight veteran Sam Alvey hit him hard multiple times in the final round of the U.F.C opening bout. 249, catching Spann with a short right hook, and then landing a flurry of punches before the final horn.
But Spann, a 28-year-old contender, had already won the first two rounds and emerged with a split decision victory.
A second-round kick to Alvey’s head sparked octagon-side advertisers’ reaction and likely would have sparked cheers from viewers. Except that Spann and Alvey met in an almost empty arena, with fans banned due to the coronavirus pandemic. Their bout felt like a display, with the venue so quiet that the camera’s microphones picked up instructions from the fighters ‘corners and even the athletes’ breath.
Spann used timely front kicks and right hands to control the first two rounds and improved his overall professional record to 18-5. Saturday’s loss was Alvey’s fourth consecutive loss.
As live televised sports stopped in mid-March, sports channels He drew on his files and served up a lot of classic games. When there have been live events to show, the W.N.B.A. and N.F.L. Drafts, Korean Baseball: Production is reduced and no fans are present. So what will U.F.C. How does it look and sound on television?
In the arena, fights take place in 15,000 seats, but no fans are allowed, so expect to hear a cavernous void. Dana White He told Sports Illustrated this week that he considered channeling audience noise or some kind of virtual audience, before deciding not to. The normal in the arena D.J. However, it will be on the site and viewers will likely hear more about the fighters.
The announcers will summon the fights from near the octagon but will sit apart from each other. After each fight, Joe Rogan will interview the winners from at least six feet away. The U.F.C. He hasn’t revealed his camera settings, but considering that he’s always controlled production, it’s likely that he looks a lot like previous events.
At the start of its broadcast, a foot shot included all three broadcasters: Jon Anik in game-by-game play and analysts Rogan and Daniel Cormier, together and unmasked. Later they seemed to speak from separate tables at different points around the octagon.
“People are starving. They are starving for something, some action, some fun, “Rogan said.
The owners of U.F.C. They insist that they are not celebrating the fighting due to financial pressures.
Dana White went from minimizing the risk of the coronavirus to recognizing it and insisting that the U.F.C. It would be the first sport back. Why the rush?
It is not financial, according to Mark Shapiro, president of Endeavor, owner of the U.F.C. “We are not struggling to fulfill any contract or due to a particular financial situation at Endeavor,” Shapiro said. Endeavor has a debt of $ 4.6 billion and has laid off, suspended or reduced the wages of a third of its 7,500 employees worldwide.
Instead, Shapiro and U.F.C. Officials have said that their efforts are in the service of athletes, who are not paid unless they perform. “We have fighters who want to fight, and they have contracts that force us to put them in an octagon,” Shapiro said.
Typically, in early May, the Ultimate Fighting Championship competes with the N.B.A. and N.H.L. playoffs, a complete list of baseball games and other great events like the Kentucky Derby and boxing.
Not on Saturday night, as the U.F.C. try to organize fights in the middle of The coronavirus pandemic. U.F.C. 249 takes place in Jacksonville, Florida, where state authorities have considered professional sport (and even professional wrestling) an essential business. Athletic regulators agreed to sanction mixed martial arts bouts when other states, such as New York and California, have not done so during the outbreak.
The event continues despite one of the U.F.C.’s 24 fighters, Ronaldo Souza, and two of his cornerbacks testing positive for the coronavirus on Friday in the lead-up to the fight. U.F.C. Officials have been cautious about their measures to keep fighters safe during three planned events, including two next week, but insist they can minimize the risks associated with large gatherings.
Souza, who was showing no symptoms, told the promotion company when he arrived in Jacksonville on Wednesday that one of his family members may have had the virus, a U.F.C. The executive told ESPN, which is broadcasting the preliminary bouts and selling the pay-per-view card.
The starting fight is between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje, an interim lightweight title bout that pits two fighters who have an exciting knockout history.
There are 11 fights scheduled.
The main pay-per-view card on ESPN + features five bouts, with Ferguson and Gaethje in the main event. The complete list:
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Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje, interim lightweight championship
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Henry Cejudo vs. Dominick Cruz, Bantamweight Championship
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Francis Ngannou vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik, heavyweight
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Jeremy Stephens vs. Calvin Kattar, featherweight
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Greg Hardy vs. Yorgan De Castro, heavyweight
There are six preliminary bouts:
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Anthony Pettis vs. Donald Cerrone, welterweight
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Aleksei Oleinik vs. Fabricio Werdum, heavyweight
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Carla Esparza vs Michelle Waterson, strawweight
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Vicente Luque vs. Niko Price, welterweight
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Bryce Mitchell vs. Charles Rosa, featherweight
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Ryan Spann vs. Sam Alvey, light heavyweight
Who Is Dana White?
Dana White has been president of the U.F.C. For nearly 20 years, a tenure that has seen mixed martial arts emerge from a prohibited niche sport in many states to a global superstar like Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey. But after earning hundreds of millions of dollars, why are you still working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Do you still need a bombastic street fighter as a leader?
Where is Khabib Nurmagomedov?
Undefeated lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov was supposed to top this card with a title defense against Tony Ferguson. Instead, he is in his native Dagestan, the Russian Republic, where pandemic-related travel restrictions prevent him from leaving.
Nurmagomedov and Ferguson have now been slated to fight five different times, with each fight canceled for progressively extreme reasons: injury, illness, and now a global outbreak. Ferguson has accused Nurmagomedov of Deliberately avoiding a U.F.C. 249 showdown, but promotion company president Dana White insists that the champion was ready for this fight and simply left behind in Dagestan while the U.F.C. he rushed to find a location and look for other logistics for Saturday’s card.
“The world was literally changing day by day” White said in a recent interview with BT Sport. “We had all made some bad decisions that caught him in Moscow.” White added: “I also take responsibility for that. Occurred.”
For his part, Nurmagomedov awaits the winner of Saturday’s main event and says he will be ready to fight after Ramadan, which ends on May 23.
“It was the best training ground,” he wrote in a recent Instagram post, referring to his preparation for the Ferguson fight. “I haven’t felt that good in a while.”
He vowed to “come back even better.”
Conor McGregor, the U.F.C.’s biggest pay-per-view attraction, has been at home in Ireland, where he will look at Saturday’s card to assess future opponents and judge how the sport is organized amid the pandemic.
Where is Dominick Cruz?
He returned to the octagon after more than three years out of competition, facing bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo.
Since then, Cruz has worked as an analyst at U.F.C. broadcast, but never retired. In pre-fight promotional videos, Cruz and the U.F.C. They’ve been selling the idea that his time on the sidelines will make him a smarter fighter.
Cruz, now 34, made it clear to reporters during an online news conference on Thursday that he doesn’t believe in rusting the ring, the idea that time out of competition weakens a fighter’s abilities. Instead, he said, he is happy to be healthy enough to compete and be confident even when facing Cejudo.
“Create an appreciation for the little things,” Cruz said Thursday. “I am grateful to be in this position.”
Where’s Grandma Cerrone?
Whenever Donald Cerrone fights, his grandmother Jerry Cerrone usually sits in the front row. After Conor McGregor knocked out Cerrone in January, Jerry entered the octagon to comfort his grandson, nicknamed Cowboy, and was comforted by a victorious McGregor. But when Cerrone packed his R.V. To drive from New Mexico to Jacksonville, Florida, for Saturday’s fights, he left Jerry at home.
Not that he wanted to. Cerrone told reporters on Thursday that his grandmother had volunteered to drive with him and that he wanted her in Jacksonville during his fight with Anthony Pettis.
But, he said, Dana White insisted that Jerry Cerrone, 82, stay home to limit the number of people involved in the event and the risk of exposure to the coronavirus.
“I’m not going to be the guy that makes Grandma sick,” Cerrone recalled White telling him.
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